''indigence'' ▫ᴱᴺ｜Definition｜1st｜20260904120411-00-⌔

indigence - Wiktionary, the free dictionary

English

Noun

indigence (countable and uncountable, plural indigences)

• Extreme poverty or destitution.
  • ✤ Synonym: indigency
  • ✤ Antonym: affluence
  • ✤ On Professor Solanka’s street, well-heeled white youths lounged in baggy garments on roseate stoops, stylishly simulating indigence while they waited for the billionairedom that would surely be along sometime soon.¹

Etymology

From Middle English indigence, late 14th century, from Old French indigence (13th century), from Latin indigentia, from indigentem, form of indigēre (“to need”), from indu (“in, within”) + egēre (“be in need, want”).²

Only relation to antonym affluence is common Latinate suffix +‎ -ence.

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ˈɪndɪd͡ʒəns/
• Audio (Mid-Atlantic US): 🔊

Printed 2026-09-04.

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Footnotes

1. 2001, Salman Rushdie, Fury: A Novel, London: Jonathan Cape, →ISBN, page 4: ↩

2. Douglas Harper (2001–2026), “indigence”, in Online Etymology Dictionary. ↩