To exhaust the strength, richness, or fertility of; to make sterile; as, to impoverish land
Something that impoverishes a person or a country makes them poor. We need to reduce the burden of taxes that impoverish the economy. a society impoverished by wartime inflation. + impoverished im·pov·er·ished an attempt to lure businesses into impoverished areas
To make poor; to reduce to poverty or indigence; as, misfortune and disease impoverish families