destitute

C2+ Topic:Describing Qualities

US /ˈdɛstəˌtut/ UK /ˈdɛstɪtjuːt/ See IPA manual

Meanings

1

adj
extremely poor and lacking the basic necessities of life

The flood left hundreds of families destitute.

Thesaurus

Synonyms

1 adj · extremely poor and lacking... impoverished penniless indigent needypoverty-strickenbereft impecunious

Opposites

wealthy affluent rich prosperous

Word family

Forms destitutes

Derived forms destitutiondestituteness

Related forms constitute institute statute

Simplified etymology

Destitute, recorded from late Middle English, belongs to the Latin word family of statuere “set up, place.” It literally meant “placed away,” hence “forsaken.”

Etymology

From Latin destitutus, past participle of destituere ('to forsake, abandon'), from de- ('away') + statuere ('to set up, place'), from status ('a standing').

destituere Latin statuere Latin *steh₂- Proto-Indo-European

View etymology graph ->

Topics

Describing Qualities

External links

# destitute

**Type:** Word
**Level:** C2+
**Part of speech:** adj
**IPA (US):** /ˈdɛstəˌtut/
**IPA (UK):** /ˈdɛstɪtjuːt/

## Meanings
1. extremely poor and lacking the basic necessities of life

## Examples
- The flood left hundreds of families destitute.

## Synonyms
- impoverished
- penniless
- indigent
- needy
- poverty-stricken
- bereft
- impecunious

## Antonyms
- wealthy
- affluent
- rich
- prosperous

## Derived Forms
- destitution
- destituteness

## Related Forms
- constitute
- institute
- statute

## Roots and Affixes
- Root: destituere
- Root: statuere
- Root: *steh₂-

## Etymology
From Latin destitutus, past participle of destituere ('to forsake, abandon'), from de- ('away') + statuere ('to set up, place'), from status ('a standing').

## AI Etymology
Destitute comes from Latin destitutus, past participle of destituere ('to forsake, abandon'), from de- ('away') + statuere ('to set up, place'), from status ('a standing'). The historical trail runs through Latin destituere, Latin statuere and Proto-Indo-European *steh₂-. Morphologically, the surface form is analyzable into prefixes, suffixes, compounds, or participial endings that carry part of the history. In modern use it means extremely poor and lacking the basic necessities of life. Derived formations include destitution, destituteness; related forms include constitute, institute, statute.

## Topics
- Describing Qualities

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