Synonyms for destitute
- adjective
- verb
Synonyms by meaning
Adjective
1. Impoverished — lacking money, poor, impoverished; especially, extremely so
impoverished, needy, indigent, penniless, poverty-stricken, down-and-out, impecunious, bankrupt, insolvent, deficient, broken, badly off, stony, broke, strapped, hard up, pinched, moneyless, beggarly, beggared, penurious, poor rare
Verb
beggar, ruin, immiserate, pauperize, pauperise UK, impoverish, depauperate dated, embeggar dated rare
Definitions
- adj. 1
Lacking something; devoid.
- adj. 2
Lacking money, poor, impoverished; especially, extremely so.
May 24, 2018, Alex Vadukul in The New York Times, The Forgotten Entertainer Rag
- v. 1
To impoverish; to strip of wealth, resources, etc.
Forms
- Past participle
- destituted
e.g. destituted → beggared, ruined, immiserated, pauperized…
Example sentences
- needy The socially needy receive an additional allowance.
- impoverished The war lasting for years impoverished the country.
- penniless When his business failed, he was left penniless.
- indigent Being indigent is a misfortune, not a crime.
- barren Algeria's Sahara is barren and sparsely populated.
- bereft Men who were bereft of reason conducted the war.
Popularity over time
| Word | 1850 → 2019 | Trend |
|---|---|---|
| destitute | steady | |
| needy | falling | |
| impoverished | rising | |
| penniless | rising | |
| indigent | falling | |
| barren | steady |
Use in printed books, per decade from 1850 to 2019.
By length
- 4 letters
- free1, poor1, ruin2, bare1, void1
- 5 letters
- broke1, empty2, needy2, stony2
- 6 letters
- broken2, barren2, devoid2, beggar2, bereft2
- 7 letters
- pinched1
- 8 letters
- innocent3, bankrupt2, strapped1, indigent3, beggarly, beggared, embeggar
- 9 letters
- deficient3, penniless3, insolvent3, moneyless3, penurious4, pauperize, pauperise
- 10 letters
- impoverish3, immiserate
- 11 letters
- impecunious, depauperate
- 12 letters
- impoverished3
The small number after each word is its number of syllables (ruin2 = 2 syllables).
In other languages
- Français
- démuni