poor

moderate to inferior in quality

• “they improved the quality from mediocre to above average”
• “he would make a poor spy”

deserving or inciting pity

• “a hapless victim”
• “miserable victims of war”
• “the shabby room struck her as extraordinarily pathetic” Galsworthy
• “piteous appeals for help”
• “pitiable homeless children”
• “a pitiful fate”
• “Oh, you poor thing”
• “his poor distorted limbs”
• “a wretched life”

having little money or few possessions

• “deplored the gap between rich and poor countries”
• “the proverbial poor artist living in a garret”

characterized by or indicating lack of money

• “the country had a poor economy”

low in degree

• “expectations were poor”

badly supplied with desirable qualities or substances

• “a poor land”
• “the area was poor in timber and coal”
• “food poor in nutritive value”

not sufficient to meet a need

• “an inadequate income”
• “a poor salary”
• “money is short”
• “on short rations”
• “food is in short supply”
• “short on experience”

unsatisfactory

• “a poor light for reading”
• “poor morale”
• “expectations were poor”

yielding little by great labor

• “a hardscrabble farm”
• “poor soil”