destitute

English

Etymology

From Latin dēstitūtus.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈdɛstɪtjuːt/
• IPA^(key): /ˈdɛstɪtʃuːt/
• IPA^(key): /ˈdɛstɪtuːt/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Audio (UK):

  (file)

• Hyphenation: des‧ti‧tute

Adjective

destitute (comparative more destitute, superlative most destitute)

1. (followed by the preposition "of") Lacking something; devoid
   • 1827, James Fenimore Cooper, The Prairie Chapter 9

     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.

   • 1611 King James Bible, Psalms 141:8

     In thee is my trust; leave not my soul destitute.

   1. lacking money; poor, impoverished
      • May 24, 2018, Alex Vadukul in The New York Time, The Forgotten Entertainer Rag

        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.

      • 1918, Henry Leyford Gates translating Aurora Mardiganian, Ravished Armenia

        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.

      • 1841, Charles Dickens, Barnaby Rudge, Chapter 45

        ‘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. […] ’

Synonyms

• See also Thesaurus:impoverished

Translations

lacking something; devoid; poor, impoverished, poverty-stricken

• Arabic: معدم
• Catalan: indigent (ca) m or f
• Finnish: varaton (fi)
• French: démuni (fr)
• Georgian: ღარიბი (ka) (ɣaribi)
• German: mittellos (de)
• Irish: díothach, ainbhleitheach, dealbh (ga), dealúsach, díchairdiúil
• Italian: destituito (it)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Japanese: please add this translation if you can
• Korean: 결핍한 (gyeolpiphan)
• Latin: egens, inops
• Maori: rawakore, pākorehā, tuakoka
• Romanian: indigent, lipsit (ro), nevoiaș (ro), sărac (ro)
• Russian: бедный (ru) (bednyj), нищий (ru) (niščij)
• Spanish: indigente (es), destituido (es)

Verb

1. (transitive) To impoverish; to strip of wealth, resources, etc.

---

Latin

Adjective

(deprecated template usage) dēstitūte

1. vocative masculine singular of dēstitūtus