Phrase guide

poverty of the stimulus

noun · 1 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

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1

noun

Meaning 1

The idea that human language cannot be learned by young children with what information they are given, unless they already have an innate knowledge of language or universal grammar.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: uncountable

Topics: human-sciences, linguistics, sciences

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

History

Etymology

Coined by Noam Chomsky in 1980, though he had argued for the idea some years earlier.