destitute
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
1Other words for destitute
Opposites for destitute
Other words from destitute
- des·ti·tute·ly, adverb
- des·ti·tute·ness, noun
- pre·des·ti·tute, adjective
- un·des·ti·tute, adjective
Words Nearby destitute
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
How to use destitute in a sentence
He’s married and settled down, he’s earned awards from the likes of the US National Academy of Medicine, and he’s not a destitute grad student anymore.
The quest to learn if our brain’s mutations affect mental health | Roxanne Khamsi | August 25, 2021 | MIT Technology ReviewIn the 1840s, the Irish, fleeing famine, arrived destitute, hungry and, as political cartoons of the era show, in droves to the United States.
Every American needs to take a history of Mexico class | Gabriela Laveaga | July 22, 2021 | Washington PostPrior to the formation of the Continental Army and the decision by the founding states to allow the newly created federal government to raise funds for that army, the early Colonial soldiers were destitute, hungry, and poorly equipped.
The lesson from the botched COVID vaccine rollout: Sometimes you need ‘Big Government’ | Matthew Heimer | January 13, 2021 | FortuneFrom 1929 to 1934, crop yields across Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas and Missouri plunged by 60%, leaving farmers destitute and exposing the now-barren topsoil to dry winds and soaring temperatures.
Climate Change Will Force a New American Migration | by Abrahm Lustgarten, photography by Meridith Kohut | September 15, 2020 | ProPublicaWhen everyone is struggling, how much is to be offered to the more destitute, and how much is to be accepted?
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.
In critical ways, Russia remains technologically adept, but by its current behavior Russia is also revealed as morally destitute.
From the American Dust Bowl, thousands of destitute farm families stream westward.
Adam Hochschild on Keeping Company With His Dying Father | Adam Hochschild | June 14, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTWhen the old couple became bankrupt and died, the old nurse found herself alone and almost destitute in the world.
The Garret and the Garden | R.M. BallantyneLouis was benevolent, but destitute of the decision of character requisite to hold the reins of government in so stormy a period.
Madame Roland, Makers of History | John S. C. AbbottNow here is a lady, well educated and delicately nurtured, who is destitute of the common necessaries of life.
The World Before Them | Susanna MoodieIt must be borne in mind, in this consideration, that the apes differ from the other tree-dwellers in being destitute of claws.
Man And His Ancestor | Charles MorrisThe lower jaws in both were heavy, while the woman was almost destitute of a chin—a marked ape-like characteristic.
Man And His Ancestor | Charles Morris
British Dictionary definitions for destitute
/ (ˈdɛstɪˌtjuːt) /
lacking the means of subsistence; totally impoverished
(postpositive foll by of) completely lacking; deprived or bereft (of): destitute of words
obsolete abandoned or deserted
Origin of destitute
1Derived forms of destitute
- destituteness, noun
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
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