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usually uncountable, plural penuries
Extreme want; poverty; destitution. quotations examples
In all labour there is profit: but the talk of the lips tendeth only to penury.
1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], Proverbs 14:23
The hardship, penury and hunger of the early 1930s is etched in the collective memory of older Americans.
2009 April 18, Oliver Kamm, “The recession explained”, in The Times Online
Scrayingham: The churchyard nine miles north-east of York is the last resting place of 'Railway King' George Hudson, who died 150 years ago on December 14. He was responsible for the development of much of the UK's railway network but became financially overstretched. He was found guilty of fraud, was imprisoned, and spent his final years in penury.
2021 December 29, Howard Johnston, “Regional News: Eastern”, in RAIL, number 947, page 20
(now chiefly poetic) A lack of something; a dearth. quotations examples
No! penury, inertness and grimace, / In some strange sort, were the land's portion. […]
1855, Robert Browning, Childe Roland to the Dark Tower Came, section XI