destitute
[des-ti-toot, -tyoot]
- without means of subsistence; lacking food, clothing, and shelter.
- deprived of, devoid of, or lacking (often followed by of): destitute of children.
- to leave destitute.
Origin of destitute
Synonyms
See more synonyms on Thesaurus.com1. needy, poor, indigent, necessitous, penniless, impoverished. 2. deficient.
Antonyms
1. affluent.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for destitute
Contemporary Examples
What happened to the Christian concern to “love the least of these,” the most vulnerable, the most destitute?
And by 1918 much of Central and Eastern Europe was starving and destitute.
From the American Dust Bowl, thousands of destitute farm families stream westward.
Six months later, she was in love, pregnant, and, as her furious parents cut her off, destitute.
Nation building in a country as destitute and decentralized as Afghanistan, he argued, was hopeless.
Historical Examples
Gosse found the country generally poor and destitute of water.
Explorations in AustraliaJohn Forrest
He found the district to the north to be a dreary waste, destitute of food and water.
Explorations in AustraliaJohn Forrest
Do you think me destitute of every honest, every natural feeling?
Lady SusanJane Austen
Remember the interpositions of God to supply the necessities of the destitute.
Female Scripture Biographies, Vol. IIFrancis Augustus Cox
His eyes travelled over her hands and neck, destitute of ornaments.
The AvengerE. Phillips Oppenheim
destitute
- lacking the means of subsistence; totally impoverished
- (postpositive foll by of) completely lacking; deprived or bereft (of)destitute of words
- obsolete abandoned or deserted
Word Origin
C14: from Latin dēstitūtus forsaken, from dēstituere to leave alone, from statuere to place
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
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Word Origin and History for destitute
adj.
late 14c., "abandoned, forsaken," from Latin destitutus "abandoned," past participle of destituere "forsake," from de- "away" + statuere "put, place," causative of stare "to stand," from PIE root *sta- "to stand" (see stet). Originally literal; sense of "lacking resources, impoverished" is 1530s.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper