without means of subsistence; lacking food, clothing, and shelter.
deprived of, devoid of, or lacking (often followed by of): destitute of children.
verb (used with object),des·ti·tut·ed,des·ti·tut·ing.
to leave destitute.
Origin of destitute
1350–1400; Middle English <Latin dēstitūtus (past participle of dēstituere to abandon, deprive of support), equivalent to dē-de- + stit- place, put (combining form of statuere;see statute) + -ū- thematic vowel + -tus past participle suffix
From 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|ProPublica
What happened to the Christian concern to “love the least of these,” the most vulnerable, the most destitute?
Dear Evangelicals: You’re Being Had|Jay Michaelson|November 30, 2014|DAILY BEAST
And by 1918 much of Central and Eastern Europe was starving and destitute.
How WWI Produced the Holocaust|J.P. O’Malley|November 21, 2014|DAILY BEAST
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|DAILY BEAST
Six months later, she was in love, pregnant, and, as her furious parents cut her off, destitute.
It’s Complicated For Cutie & the Boxer|Melissa Leon|February 5, 2014|DAILY BEAST
Nation building in a country as destitute and decentralized as Afghanistan, he argued, was hopeless.
How Biden’s Win on Afghanistan Policy Has Shaped Obama’s Arab Approach|Peter Beinart|August 21, 2013|DAILY BEAST
Thousands of the most beautiful women are destitute of common sense and common humanity.
Aims and Aids for Girls and Young Women|George Sumner Weaver
Why would your God people a world, knowing that it would be destitute of benevolence for four thousand years?
The Works of Robert G. Ingersoll, Vol. 6 (of 12)|Robert G. Ingersoll
A family of destitute children, the eldest not yet sixteen, the youngest a dumb girl.
Nobody's Boy|Hector Malot
Such an objection, therefore, as has been now stated, is evidently not destitute of strength.
A General History and Collection of Voyages and Travels, Vol. 15 (of 18)|Robert Kerr
The country is barren deserts, destitute of grass, and covered with wild sage.
Journal of a Trip to California by the Overland Route Across the Plains in 1850-51|E. S. (Eleazer Stillman) Ingalls
British Dictionary definitions for destitute
destitute
/ (ˈdɛstɪˌtjuːt) /
adjective
lacking the means of subsistence; totally impoverished
(postpositive foll by of) completely lacking; deprived or bereft (of)destitute of words
obsoleteabandoned or deserted
Derived forms of destitute
destituteness, noun
Word Origin for destitute
C14: from Latin dēstitūtus forsaken, from dēstituere to leave alone, from statuere to place