GC: n

S: UNICEF – http://www.unicef.org/sowc05/english/poverty.html (last access: 5 April 2015); http://www.globalissues.org/issue/2/causes-of-poverty (last access: 5 April 2015).

N: 1. late 12c., from Old French poverte “poverty, misery, wretched condition” (Modern French pauvreté), from Latin paupertatem (nominative paupertas) “poverty,” from pauper “poor”.
“Seeing so much poverty everywhere makes me think that God is not rich. He gives the appearance of it, but I suspect some financial difficulties”. (Victor Hugo, “Les Misérables,” 1862).
Poverty line attested from 1901; poverty trap from 1966; poverty-stricken from 1803.
2. poverty, the state of one who lacks a usual or socially acceptable amount of money or material possessions. Poverty is said to exist when people lack the means to satisfy their basic needs. In this context, the identification of poor people first requires a determination of what constitutes basic needs. These may be defined as narrowly as “those necessary for survival” or as broadly as “those reflecting the prevailing standard of living in the community.”
3. Collocations:

• Adj + poverty: abject, absolute, extreme, grinding, severe | widespread | rural, urban.
• Verb + poverty: alleviate, combat, reduce | eliminate, eradicate hoping to eradicate urban poverty.
• Poverty + noun: trap. Caught in the poverty trap, they are unable to save money for business ventures.
• Prep.: in + poverty; Most of the population lives in grinding poverty. | poverty + among; The true extent of poverty among the unemployed | poverty + of; His work displays a poverty of imagination.
• Phrases: below/on the poverty line; Families living on incomes below the poverty line.

4. Cultural Interrelation: “Anyone who has struggled with poverty knows how extremely expensive it is to be poor”. James Baldwin (1924-1987) African-American writer.

S: 1. OED – http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?allowed_in_frame=0&search=poverty&searchmode=none (last access: 5 April 2015). 2. EncBrit – http://global.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/473136/poverty (last access: 5 April 2015). 3. http://oxforddictionary.so8848.com/search1?word=poverty (last access: 15 May 2015). 4. http://en.proverbia.net/citastema.asp?tematica=925 (last access: 5 April 2015).

SYN:
S:

CR: aporophobia, energy poverty, inequalities, mental health, misery, poverty line, poverty reduction strategies, third world, underprivileged.