misery / poverty

dear me! dear Lord! oh boy! heavens! woe is me!

utter destitution, abject poverty, dire poverty, grinding poverty, squalor

(Belgium, informal) to give (someone) a hard time, to make (someone's) life a misery, to torment [+ à (someone)]

outer garment that is used to hide dilapidated clothes / anything that is used to disguise a poor state of affairs; a Potemkin village

(figuratively) to cry poor, to cry poverty (to complain loudly about one's material situation)

starvation wages

plural of misère

third-person plural past historic of miser

(transitive with à) (informal) to give someone a hard time, to make someone life a misery, to hurt someone, to torment someone