destitute
/ˈdɛstɪtuːt/
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: 3.07 in modern English
10
Scrabble Score
9
Letters
3
Syllables
6
Unique Chars
Meaning
adj
Lacking money, poor, impoverished; especially, extremely so.
Example Sentences
- "Now, though this region may scarcely be said to be wedded to science, being to all intents a virgin territory as respects the enquirer into natural history, still it is greatly destitute of the treasures of the vegetable kingdom."
- "In thee is my trust; leave not my soul destitute."
- "Near-synonym: penniless"
- "‘Do you know how pinched and destitute I am?’ she retorted. ‘I do not think you do, or can. If you had eyes, and could look around you on this poor place, you would have pity on me.[…]’ In 1907 he moved from St. Louis to New York City, arriving as a famous composer. But he died a decade later at the age of 49, destitute in an asylum on Wards Island as ragtime was fading in popularity."
- "according to the most careful estimates, 3,950,000 destitute peoples, mostly women and children who had been driven many of them as far as one thousand miles from home, turn their pitiful faces toward America for help in the reconstructive period in which we are now living."
- "He wondered how many people were destitute that same night even in his own prosperous country, how many homes were shanties, how many husbands were drunk and wives socked, and how many children were bullied, abused or abandoned."
Etymology
From Middle English destitute, destitut, from Latin dēstitūtus.
Origin
Word Breakdown
- Root: destitute, dēstitūtus, destituten
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /ˈdɛstɪtuːt/
Usage
Inflected Forms
more destitute (comparative)
most destitute (superlative)
destitutes (present, singular)
destituting (participle, present)
destituted (participle, past)
destituted (past)