destitute
destitute Lexical Profile
destitute Game Scores & Validity
• adjective
Extremely poor and lacking the basic necessities of life, such as food, shelter, and clothing.
"The charity provides emergency housing and warm meals for destitute families in the region."
Entirely lacking or devoid of a specified quality, resource, or characteristic (usually followed by 'of').
"The barren landscape seemed completely destitute of vegetation after the prolonged drought."
Word Nuance & Usage
When used in the sense of lacking a particular quality or resource, 'destitute' is a predicative adjective followed by the preposition 'of' (e.g., 'destitute of hope'), whereas in the sense of extreme poverty it can be used both attributively and predicatively.
• Rhymes for destitute
Word Origin & Etymology
Borrowed in Middle English from Latin 'destitutus', the past participle of 'destituere' ('to forsake' or 'to abandon'), formed from 'de-' ('away') and 'statuere' ('to put' or 'to place').