down-and-out
adjective
Simple meaning
In a condition of poverty or debility.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
downandowtSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
ˈdaʊˈnænˈdaʊt
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
adjective
In a condition of poverty or debility, especially as a result of experiencing a financial or personal setback.
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- C2 · Proficient (estimated)
- Typical Use
- Rare
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: In a condition of poverty or debility, especially as a result of experiencing a financial or personal setback.
Used this way, down-and-out is a specialist word with a faintly unfavourable edge. This is a financial use: it has a settled meaning in accounting and business, where precision matters more than colour.
- Emotional tone
- Slightly negative
- Formality
- Specialist/technical
- Intensity
- Moderate
- How common
- Specialized
- Connotation
- Critical or judgemental
- Usage feel
- Clinical and detached
Where it naturally appears
- Finance/economics
- Business/professional
Usage note
In general conversation this sense usually needs explaining — outside its field, people reach for a plainer word.
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
More ways to use down-and-out
- “He tried to help the down-and-out.”noun
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.