Thesaurus.com
Dictionary.com
Definitions

beggar

[beg-er] / ˈbɛg ər /




Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

See Examples For:

In several essays, including one titled “The Wandering Jew,” Elie Wiesel describes his friendship with a mysterious, charismatic sage who dresses like a beggar but whose Jewish learning enthralls all those who meet him.

From The Wall Street Journal May 28, 2026

Robbie’s most deliciously debasing scene is when she throws coins on the ground for a desperate beggar — and then that person forces her to watch as he picks them up.

From Los Angeles Times Feb. 11, 2026

"It's just garbage... the clothes you can't even wear, you wouldn't even give to a beggar," Akoth said.

From Barron's Oct. 13, 2025

But over the following years, purported sightings of Majorana multiplied: as a beggar in Naples, a monk in Calabria, and a vagabond in South America.

From Science Magazine Dec. 20, 2023

It gave her the posture of a beggar or praying mantis.

From "The Underground Railroad: A Novel" by Colson Whitehead

Perhaps a few would have fancied more goals against Haiti, but beggars cannot be choosers after a 36-year wait for a win on the biggest stage of all.

From BBC Jun. 20, 2026

“To that I can only say they are correct. It beggars belief.”

From The Wall Street Journal Apr. 20, 2026

She told MSPs that a new track would not have received planning permission, adding it "beggars belief" parliament found time to debate a bill that does "little or nothing" for greyhound safety.

From BBC Mar. 18, 2026

"Common people, business owners — even beggars — are now fed up. Justice has been sent into exile."

From Barron's Feb. 9, 2026

Her writing wasn’t quite as clear, but beggars can’t be choosers.

From "Ungifted" by Gordon Korman

A worse sin, even, than Amin’s expulsion in 1972 of every last Ugandan Asian, an act that was wildly popular with black Ugandans but which beggared Uganda almost overnight.

From The Wall Street Journal Oct. 15, 2025

But the soaring price of shipping beggared that strategy.

From New York Times Feb. 3, 2023

If you thought the scot-free museum heist beggared belief, then you underestimate Elektra and her imagination.

From Salon May 2, 2021

The first warning shot came from Patrik Schick, volleying just wide from 18 yards, and the next sequence of events beggared belief.

From The Guardian Feb. 19, 2020

The teeth in their sockets like dental molds, the crude tattoos etched in some homebrewed woad faded in the beggared sunlight.

From "The Road" by Cormac McCarthy

"It's beggaring the entire Forest Service budget," Safford said.

From Salon Mar. 1, 2022

But beggaring the workers who trusted promises made by their employers, their unions and their government is not the answer.

From Washington Post Nov. 9, 2018

It would have restricted development on grouse habitat, potentially beggaring states such as Wyoming which collects three-fifths of its revenues from energy companies.

From Economist May 3, 2018

It was in the thick of one of its periodic reform dramas, beggaring any movie and featuring a bomb, a Thin Man, a false-bottomed car.

From Time Magazine Archive

I sat down on the straw, my hands around my knees, in a state of dejection beggaring belief….

From The Mysterious Sketch by Erckmann-Chatrian




Vocabulary lists containing beggar


Vocabulary.com logo
by dictionary.com

Dictionary.com's Learning Companion

Go beyond just looking up words.
Remember them forever with VocabTrainer.

Start training