impoverish

From Middle English impoverishen, empoverishen, from Old French empoverir, from em- + povre, from Latin pauper (“poor”) (English poor).

• IPA^(key): /ɪmˈpɒv(ə)ɹɪʃ/

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impoverish (third-person singular simple present impoverishes, present participle impoverishing, simple past and past participle impoverished)

1. (transitive) To make poor.
2. (transitive) To weaken in quality; to deprive of some strength or richness.

   That exuberant crop quickly impoverishes any fertile soil.

3. (intransitive) To become poor.

• (to make poor): ruin; poor (rare)
• (to weaken or deprive): deplete

• enrich

• impoverisher
• impoverishment

• immiserate

• “impoverish”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• “impoverish”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.
• “impoverish”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.