Destitute
['destɪtjuːt] or ['dɛstə'tʊt]
Definition
(a.) Forsaken; not having in possession (something necessary, or desirable); deficient; lacking; devoid; -- often followed by of.
(a.) Not possessing the necessaries of life; in a condition of want; needy; without possessions or resources; very poor.
(v. t.) To leave destitute; to forsake; to abandon.
(v. t.) To make destitute; to cause to be in want; to deprive; -- followed by of.
(v. t.) To disappoint.
Edited by Bernice
Synonyms and Synonymous
a. Indigent, needy, poor, penniless, necessitous, distressed, reduced, pinched, short of money, out of money, out of cash, out of pocket, in need, in want, moneyless.
Editor: William
Synonyms and Antonyms
[See DEPRIVE_and_NEEDY]
Checker: Millicent
Definition
adj. left alone: forsaken: in want needy—v.t. to forsake: to deprive.—n. Destitu′tion the state of being destitute: deprivation of office: poverty.
Typed by Ferris
Examples
- Some of the best people that ever lived have been as destitute as I am; and if you are a Christian, you ought not to consider poverty a crime. Charlotte Bronte. Jane Eyre.
- Many of the foreigners were utterly destitute; and their increasing numbers at length forbade a recourse to the usual modes of relief. Mary Shelley. The Last Man.
- Being destitute, he has a claim on me. George Eliot. Middlemarch.
- I wish to soothe him; yet can I counsel one so infinitely miserable, so destitute of every hope of consolation, to live? Mary Shelley. Frankenstein_Or_The Modern Prometheus.
- To this neighbourhood, then, I came, quite destitute. Charlotte Bronte. Jane Eyre.
- You suspect I have many enemies, then, Caroline, said Mr. Moore, and doubtless you know me to be destitute of friends? Charlotte Bronte. Shirley.
- Those are better off who, being destitute of advantage, cannot cherish delusion. Charlotte Bronte. Shirley.
- Many relics of the inhabitants have been found in these cliff dwellings, although we cannot tell how they lived, for the region is now rainless and therefore destitute of food plants. Various. The Wonder Book of Knowledge.
- My sister was by nature destitute of the common feelings of anxious, petulant jealousy. Mary Shelley. The Last Man.
- A sentimental man, then, is one who has thoughts, ideas, notions; an unsentimental man is one destitute of thought, idea, or notion. Charlotte Bronte. Shirley.
- Fanny's extreme good nature was always a Refuge for the Destitute. Harriette Wilson. The Memoirs of Harriette Wilson.
- I felt more miserable and destitute than I had done at any period of my running away. Charles Dickens. David Copperfield.
- The forty we brought away with us were chiefly destitute, though not all of them. Mark Twain. The Innocents Abroad.
- It tells how they was stoned and sawn asunder, and wandered about in sheep-skins and goat-skins, and was destitute, afflicted, tormented. Harriet Beecher Stowe. Uncle Tom's Cabin.
- But what can be expected from one thus destitute of every manly feeling of compassion towards a poor, fallen, defenceless relative! Harriette Wilson. The Memoirs of Harriette Wilson.
Checker: Nicole