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down-and-out

down-and-out

1 7.7
A person with no money, job, or home
  • noun
  • /ˈdaʊn ənd aʊt/
translation icon : desamparado
  • Many down-and-out individuals seek help from shelters during the harsh winter months.

Examples

  • While hopping between these obviously studio-owned streams, I tried to get the women who are clearly down and out to talk about their work.

    Blog text (19)
  • Why didn't you tell me you were a down-and-out?

  • But as I told you, the overdose cases we get in here are usually the truly down and out.

    Fiction book (1992)
  • We are empty nesters and like to feed others who are down and out.

    Blog text (24)
  • As a group, the chronically homeless typify the image many Americans have of the most down-and-out individuals on the margins of society.

    Blog text (31)
  • It was blonde like his hair, but uneven and straggly, and made him look more like a down-and-out than a Viking.

    Fiction book (1990)
  • My character Kian is a down and out failed writer in a trailer park in the Midwest who's run out of insurance and he's got a brain tumor.

  • It's also well established that Stonewall primarily catered to the most marginalized and down-and-out members of the queer community: trans women, sex workers, and queer people of color, as well as various street kids.

    Blog text (16)
  • The charity provides meals and support for the down-and-out in our community who need assistance.

  • He often volunteers to help the down-and-out by serving food at the local soup kitchen.

Synonyms

homeless person
vsdown-and-out
76 2.3

A person who has no home and often lives on the streets

is destitute by lacking money, a job, and a home
homeless
vsdown-and-out
73 1.6

A person who has no home to live in

is more extreme, also lacking job and money
pauper
vsdown-and-out
19 7.4

A very poor person who depends on public charity

is not only penniless but also without home or employment
poor person
vsdown-and-out
8 1.0

A person who has very little money and few things

represents total destitution including loss of home and work
derelict
vsdown-and-out
3 8.4

A person who has no home or job and is ignored by other people

is lacking money, work, and a home
houseless
vsdown-and-out
4.4

People who do not have a home to live in

focuses on complete destitution including no work or money

Antonyms

A person who has a lot of money and property

How Poor

down-and-out
1 7.7
destitute
20 6.5
penniless
24 4.3
poor person
8 1.0

Surface Forms

down-and-out singular
down-and-outs plural

Morphology

down-and-out = down + out (semi-transparent) = down + out

As a noun the compound refers idiomatically to a destitute person; the parts point toward the meaning but the nominalized idiom is not fully compositional.

Etymology

Down-and-out originally used the same image of a boxer knocked out of the ring: someone down ('knocked down') and out ('unable to continue'). So a down-and-out is a person with no money, no job, and no home.