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You accost a stranger when you move towards them and speak in an unpleasant or threatening way.
Affluence is the state of having a lot of money and many possessions, granting one a high economic standard of living.
When you bequeath something, you hand it down to someone in a will or pass it on from one generation to the next.
When something is bestowed upon you—usually something valuable—you are given or presented it.
When you are granted a boon, you are given a special gift or favor that is of great benefit to you.
When there is a dearth of something, there is a scarcity or lack of it.
Deprivation is a state during which people lack something, especially adequate food and shelter; deprivation can also describe something being taken away from someone.
Desiderata are a wish list of things that are considered highly desirable or necessary to have.
Someone who is destitute lives in extreme poverty and thus lacks the basic necessities of life.
Someone who is impecunious has very little money, especially over a long period of time.
If you describe someone as importunate, you think that he is annoying and unreasonable because he keeps trying to get something from you.
Impoverished soil has been exhausted or drained of its nutrients.
An indigent person is very poor.
Largess is the generous act of giving money or presents to a large number of people.
If someone exhibits magnanimity towards another, they show them kindness and noble generosity, especially after defeating them in battle or after having been treated badly by them.
A munificent person is extremely generous, especially with money.
A paucity of something is not enough of it.
Pecuniary means relating to or concerning money.
Penury is the state of being extremely poor.
Philanthropy is unselfish support in the form of donating money, work, or gifts to positive social purposes; philanthropy is also overall love for humans in general.
If you say that you’ve received a pittance, you mean that you received a small amount of something—and you know that you deserved more.
If you suffer privation, you live without many of the basic things required for a comfortable life.
When you proffer something to someone, you offer it up or hold it out to them to take.
A supplicant is someone who humbly and respectfully asks for something from another who is powerful enough to grant the request.
If someone acts in an unobtrusive way, their actions are not easily noticed and do not stand out in any way.
If you say someone’s behavior is unseemly, you disapprove of it because it is not in good taste or not suitable for a particular situation.
Noun
mendicant
MEN-di-kuhnt
Context
The increasing homeless problem in the United States has led to more and more mendicants or beggars living their lives on the street. Did you know that the largest homeless shelter that feeds and houses mendicants or street people is located about three blocks from the White House? Mendicants, or those who ask for handouts on a daily basis, often live their entire lives not knowing for sure where their next dollar will come from, although most are well fed by soup kitchens.
Quiz:Try again!
What is a mendicant?
He is someone who spends his days wandering the streets.
Can'tMend A mendicantcan'tmend his financial life, and so he has to beg for money.
Examples
Franciscans, Dominicans and Carmelites, for example, are considered mendicant orders, and the friars — not called monks — depend exclusively on charity.
—
CNN
The destroyer Shiva, as portrayed by the aboriginal Maria tribe of Madhya Pradesh in a ritual mask, takes on the unkempt, disheveled appearance of a wandering mendicant.
—
TIME
Next day on the set, he inspected a possible disguise: the beehive headgear originally worn by jobless, mendicant samurai trying to hide their shame.
—
TIME
To delay its repayments may send the wrong signal to the capital markets, it fears, suggesting that Thailand is a mendicant country unable to carry its debts.
—
The Economist
A mendicant is in “defective” or “wanting” circumstances.
Word Constellation
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Related Words
accost ·
dearth* ·
deprivation+ ·
desiderata* ·
destitute+ ·
impecunious+ ·
importunate ·
impoverished+ ·
indigent+ ·
paucity ·
penury+ ·
privation+ ·
supplicant ·
unseemly ·
affluence+ ·
bequeath ·
bestow ·
boon ·
largess ·
magnanimity ·
munificent ·
pecuniary* ·
philanthropy ·
pittance ·
proffer ·
unobtrusive ·
Similar sense
Opposite sense
Word Variants
mendicant
adj
→
begging; living on charity
The section lists important variants and alternate definitions of the headword. Knowing variants will often help you both remember and understand the word. Not all variants are listed - only the ones we think that are important for you to know.