Definition

Noun: 1. The practice of begging for money or food, especially as a means of livelihood. This refers to the act of asking strangers for charitable donations, typically in public places. 2. The condition of being a beggar; the state of living by begging. This describes the overall status or situation of a person who depends on alms.

Examples

• The city introduced new ordinances to regulate mendicancy in the central square.
• During the economic depression, many families faced unemployment and eventual mendicancy.
• The monk's vow of poverty included a strict form of mendicancy, relying solely on the generosity of others for daily sustenance.

Advanced Usage

• Legal/Historical Context: The term is often used in formal, legal, or historical discussions about poverty, social policy, and religious orders (e.g., mendicant friars).
  • The law sought to distinguish between fraudulent and genuine mendicancy.

Variants and Related Words

• Mendicant (noun): A person who lives by begging; a beggar. (adj): Depending on alms for a living; begging.
  • The mendicant friar traveled from village to village.
• Beggary (noun): A close synonym for mendicancy, meaning the state of being a beggar or the practice of begging.

Synonyms

• Begging
• Panhandling (more common in modern American English)
• Cadging
• Soliciting alms

Related Phrases

• To live in mendicancy: To live in a state of beggary.
  • The war left many veterans to live in mendicancy.
• Reduced to mendicancy: Forced into the state of being a beggar.
  • The family was reduced to mendicancy after losing their farm.

Noun

1. a solicitation for money or food (especially in the street by an apparently penniless person)
2. the state of being a beggar or mendicant
   • they were reduced to mendicancy