different between impoverished vs needy

English

Pronunciation

• (General American) IPA^(key): /?m?p?v????t/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /?m?p?v(?)???t/
• Hyphenation: im?pov?er?ished

Adjective

impoverished (comparative more impoverished, superlative most impoverished)

1. Reduced to poverty.
2. Having lost a component, an ingredient, or a faculty or a feature; rendered poor in something; depleted.

Synonyms

• See also Thesaurus:impoverished

Derived terms

• impoverishedly
• impoverishedness

Translations

Verb

impoverished

1. simple past tense and past participle of impoverish

English

Etymology

From Middle English nedy, nedi (“necessitous”), from Old English n?di?, *n?edi? ("of need, obligated, compelled"; found in the derivative n?edi?nes (“obligation”)), from Proto-Germanic *naudigaz (“of need, forced, compelled”), equivalent to need +? -y. Cognate with Scots nedy, neidy (“needy, necessitous, impoverished”), Saterland Frisian niedich (“miserable, poor, wretched, needy”), Saterland Frisian nöödich (“necessary, needful”), West Frisian nedich (“needful, needed”), Dutch nodig (“necessary”), Middle Low German n?dich (“necessary, urgent, by requirement”), German nötig (“necessary, needful”), Danish nødig (“necessary”), Swedish nödig (“necessary”), Icelandic nauðugur (“constrained”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?ni?di/
• Rhymes: -i?di

Adjective

needy (comparative needier, superlative neediest)

1. In need; poor.

   Needy people want to give too, but have few material goods to offer.

   • 29 February 2012, Aidan Foster-Carter, BBC News North Korea: The denuclearisation dance resumes [1]

     Such monitoring has often been a sticking point in the past, amid fears that food aid might be diverted to the Northern elite - or its military - rather than the needy.

2. Desiring constant affirmation; lacking self-confidence.

   It's emotionally exhausting to be around her because she's so needy.

3. (archaic) Needful; necessary.
   • 1861, Isaak August Dorner, Patrick Fairbairn, History of the development of the doctrine of the person of Christ

     It is the measure of things, and their time (that is, their measure, as to space and time), and yet it is above, and prior to, time: it is full in needy things, and overflows in full things; it is unutterable, innominable: it is above understanding […]

Synonyms

• (in need): See also Thesaurus:impoverished

Antonyms

• (desiring constant affirmation): confident, self-sufficient

Derived terms

• neediness

Translations

Anagrams

• Edney