Destitute

//ˈdɛstɪtʃuːt// adj, verb

adj, verb ·Moderate ·College level

Definitions

Verb
  1. 1
    To impoverish; to strip of wealth, resources, etc. transitive
Adjective
  1. 1
    Lacking something; devoid.

    "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."

  2. 2
    Lacking money, poor, impoverished; especially, extremely so.

    "Near-synonym: penniless"

Adjective
  1. 1
    completely wanting or lacking wordnet
  2. 2
    poor enough to need help from others wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms
badly offbankruptbarebarrenbarrenbeggared

Example

More examples

"The worst solitude is to be destitute of sincere friendship."

Etymology

Etymology 1

From Middle English destitute, destitut, from Latin dēstitūtus.

Etymology 2

From Middle English destituten, from the adjective (see above).

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.