Impoverishment

2 definitions found

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Impoverishment \Im*pov"er*ish*ment\, n. [Cf. OF.
     empoverissement, and F. appauvrissement.]
     The act of impoverishing, or the state of being impoverished;
     reduction to poverty. --Sir W. Scott.
     [1913 Webster]



From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

  impoverishment
       n 1: the state of having little or no money and few or no
            material possessions [syn: {poverty}, {poorness}] [ant:
            {wealth}]
       2: the act of making someone poor [syn: {pauperization}, {pauperisation}]