penniless

adj

1. (figuratively, not-comparable)Lacking even the smallest amount of money.

   “In societies without national insurance of any kind, almshouses are the last refuge of penniless people.”

   “In a functioning digital economy, being cashless is far different from being penniless, because cash is merely one form of money; but some preppers hoard gold in case the system gets destroyed and cashlessness suddenly becomes pennilessness.”

   “A dollar and a quarter seems a small sum, but if you are absolutely penniless it might as well be a thousand.”

   “This time was most dreadful for Lilian. Thrown on her own resources and almost penniless, she maintained herself and paid the rent of a wretched room near the hospital by working as a charwoman, sempstress, anything. In a moment she had dropped to the level of a casual labourer.”

2. (not-comparable)Of a country's system of money, abstaining from the use of penny coins, despite having fully decimalized currency, by means of rounding of cash transactions (but not necessarily of cashless ones).

   “Canada became a penniless country in 2013 simply by rounding its cash transactions to the nearest nickel but otherwise not changing anything.”