Poverty & Financial Issues: English Vocabulary List

to get sick with a virus that causes a runny nose, cough, and sore throat

"I caught a cold yesterday."

"If you go outside without a jacket in winter, you might catch a cold and feel terrible for several days."

to suffer ruin, failure, or defeat, due to financial difficulties, and without the possibility of recovery or rescue

"Many small businesses went to the wall."

"Many small businesses went to the wall during the recent economic recession."

to lose a big sum of money, often due to a risky bet or investment

"He lost his shirt gambling."

"He invested all his savings in that startup and unfortunately lost his shirt when it failed."

in debt due to spending more than one's earnings

"The company is in the red."

"After years of poor management, the business finally went into the red and had to close."

in an extremely bad financial condition

"The family is on its uppers."

"After losing his job the poor man was on his uppers and could not afford to buy food."

to survive with only the bare minimum resources, often with no savings or financial security

"They live hand to mouth on a small salary."

"After losing his job he has been living hand to mouth without any savings for emergencies."

severely lacking money

"He is as poor as a church mouse."

"When she first moved to the city, she was as poor as a church mouse and could barely afford food."

extremely lacking money

"They are as poor as Job."

"After losing his job and his savings, he found himself as poor as Job with nothing left."

to not have any money

"I have not a bean."

"After paying all his bills, he did not have a bean left in his pocket."

an informal threshold of income that marks the level at which a person or household is regarded as very poor or barely able to afford basic necessities

"Many families are on the breadline."

"The family was living on the breadline after the father lost his factory job."

used to refer to someone who does not have enough money and is considered poor by the society's standards

"His jacket was out at the elbows."

"The old homeless man was out at the elbows wearing a torn and dirty coat."

to face financial difficulties, particularly due to not having the same income as before

"We are starting to feel the pinch."

"Many families are feeling the pinch now that food prices have gone up so much."

used to say that an amount of money was lost due to a transaction

"I was fifty out of pocket."

"The bad investment left him two hundred out of pocket, which was a huge financial setback."

affected by poverty to an extreme degree

"They grew up dirt poor."

"My grandmother grew up dirt poor in a small village with no electricity or running water."

to forget about past disagreements or mistakes and start afresh

"Let us wipe the slate clean and start over."

"After he apologized she decided to wipe the slate clean and give him another chance."

to cease to exist as a functional company or business due to financial challenges or difficulties

"The restaurant went out of business."

"The family bakery went out of business after a large supermarket opened nearby."

with a minimal amount of financial resources

"She started her business on a shoestring."

"The young couple started their business on a shoestring budget with almost no money at all."

lacking any money or financial resources

"I cannot go out, I am flat broke."

"I cannot go to the restaurant because I am flat broke until I get paid on Friday."

very little or no money

"He does not have a pot to piss in."

"The old saying means someone is so poor they do not even have a pot to piss in."

to face problems and difficulties, particularly financial ones

"They catch a cold."

"If we don't invest more, the company will catch a cold this quarter."

to suffer ruin, failure, or defeat, due to financial difficulties, and without the possibility of recovery or rescue

"The company will go to the wall."

"Without significant funding, the struggling startup is destined to go to the wall."

(of people) without any home or shelter, therefore constantly moving from one location to another

"They lived on the road."

"The travelling salesman spends three hundred days each year on the road away from his family."

used to refer to someone who does not have enough money and is considered poor by the society's standards

"He is out at the elbows."

"Living in poverty, the once-wealthy merchant was now out at the elbows."

a period that is lacking productivity, profit, success, etc.

"It was a dry spell."

"The artist experienced a creative dry spell, unable to produce any new work for months."

to forgive and forget someone's debt, enabling them to start fresh without any financial obligations

"We will wipe the slate clean."

"The new management decided to wipe the slate clean and offer all employees a fresh start."