indigent

adj

1. Poor; destitute; in need.

   “Many of the indigent children are so badly provided for by their parents, with both food and raiment, that they cannot attend school regularly; […]”

   “And were I not a thing for you and me To execrate in anguish, you would be As indigent a stranger to surprise, I fear, as I was once, and as unwise.”

   “I had since my introduction to the prince been sensitive to the fact that he must think an obviously indigent soldier of fortune will sooner or later open the subject of a subscription to the Greek Cause.”

   “Because of this, when my second major health fiasco happened, I had no insurance, so I went to a teaching hospital where they took indigent patients.”

   “In numerous Supreme Court decisions since Gideon v. Wainwright, the states have been required to provide counsel for indigent defendants at virtually all other stages of the criminal process, beginning with arrest and concluding with the defendant's release from the system.”

2. (archaic)Utterly lacking or in need of something specified.

   “Again some Bodies dissolve both in Fire and Water, as Gums; &c. And these are such, as have both Plenty of Spirit; and their tangible Parts indigent of Moisture: the former promotes the Dilatation of the Spirits by the Fire and the latter stimulates the Parts to receive the Liquor.”

   “Will Providence guard us? How do I ſee that our Sex is naturally Indigent of Protection?—I hope it is in Fate to crown our Loves; for 'tis only in the Protection of Men of Honour, that we are naturally truly Safe […]”

noun

1. A person in need, or in poverty.

   “I liked the streets best, so I walked and stared, and slept in a Salvation Army hostel for indigents. But I was no indigent; I was rich in feeling, and that was a luxury I had rarely known.”

   “The influx of indigents overwhelmed the city's meagre social services and affordable accommodation.”

   “Then in 2005 a Republican-led Congress passed a bill requiring millions of low-income people to pay higher co-payments and premiums under Medicaid. The result was that many more indigents had to forgo care.”