How to Use destitute in a Sentence

destitute

adjective
Definition of destitutenext
Synonyms for destitutenext
  • Black people, who have a little money, but not a lot, but aren't destitute on the street and who've grown up with all sorts of people.
    — Darcel Rockett, chicagotribune.com, 25 May 2017
  • Companies then used that debt as leverage to extract forced labor and trap drivers in jobs that left them destitute.
    — Benjamin Oreskes, latimes.com, 24 June 2017
  • But if their pumps run dry, many of the million-plus people in the desert province could be left destitute, as this vital desert resource—the legacy of rainfall in wetter times—disappears for good.
    — Fred Pearce, WIRED, 9 Mar. 2024
  • Eventually, the silver crash and Tabor’s sometimes bizarre investments leave the couple and their two daughters destitute.
    — Sandra Dallas, The Denver Post, 6 Jan. 2017
  • His task was to help destitute prisoners essentially sue the government for wrongful imprisonment.
    — Vanityfair.com, VanityFair.com, 26 May 2017
  • Many of those families would be destitute without Social Security.
    — WSJ, 27 Mar. 2017
  • Hundreds of thousands were left destitute and moved to the cities to start over.
    — The Economist, 11 July 2019
  • At the same time, South Asia was left destitute when the British receded.
    — New York Times, 19 Feb. 2022
  • The remaining half-billion or so are on a par with the most destitute bits of Africa.
    — The Economist, 13 Jan. 2018
  • The son of a truck driver, Singh grew up on a farm in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh, poor but not destitute.
    — Jon Tayler, SI.com, 3 July 2018
  • There are people who are destitute when the virus hit and are already broke.
    — James Hibberd, EW.com, 1 June 2020
  • After a lifetime spent working the streets, the women were destitute and alone, and had nowhere to go.
    — Photographs and Text By Adriana Zehbrauskas, New York Times, 9 Jan. 2018
  • The lucky ones simply got dismissed from their posts and were left destitute.
    — Sam Kean, The Atlantic, 19 Dec. 2017
  • The spinning machines shut down, moved offshore, and Blackburn hit the skids in the 1970s, a poster child for destitute Britain.
    — Washington Post, 19 Jan. 2022
  • The plan hires homeless people and teaches them how to make coats for the destitute suffering on the streets.
    — Holly Yan, CNN, 21 Jan. 2020
  • Even people who still have jobs have been left destitute.
    — New York Times, 31 Mar. 2021
  • Bangladesh, already host to 1m destitute Rohingya refugees chased out of Myanmar, wants nothing to do with the whole process.
    — The Economist, 5 July 2018
  • As the day of food distribution wraps up, Rose looks out on the people who are still homeless and destitute.
    — Benjamin Oreskes, www.latimes.com, 7 June 2018
  • Dog meat was once more common, and remained so in the decades after the Korean War when the country was destitute and meat was scarce.
    — John Yoon, New York Times, 9 Jan. 2024
  • As a result, she was left destitute with five children.
    — Peter Fimrite, SFChronicle.com, 12 Nov. 2019
  • From the point of view of the not-quite-destitute, food thieves don’t deserve solidarity.
    — Ann Larson, The New Republic, 5 Mar. 2021
  • At that time, resources in Europe were scarce, and people were destitute.
    — A.j. Baime, WSJ, 30 July 2022
  • Here was a gemstone of goodness who had ascended to the levers of power in the wealthiest country to aid the most destitute.
    — Isaac Lozano, San Diego Union-Tribune, 19 Aug. 2021
  • This is a destitute Naples, and Lewis’s acute powers of observation put us right there.
    — Edward Chisholm, WSJ, 20 May 2022
  • His departure left his wife and children destitute, forcing them to live off of his Navy pension for a time.
    — Leah Silverman, Town & Country, 14 Mar. 2018
  • Many of the Kingdom’s performers arrive destitute and begging on the street.
    — Charlie Campbell / Kunming, Time, 1 June 2018
  • The fighting, along with devastating floods and cyclones, had turned the new country into one of the most destitute spots on Earth.
    — The Economist, 27 Mar. 2021
  • And the once destitute buildings around it, in central Mitte, are now among Berlin’s most valuable real estate.
    — Jay Cheshes, WSJ, 29 Nov. 2022
  • Applicants had to begin the process by quitting their jobs; those whose visas were denied were left destitute.
    — William Baldwin, Forbes, 13 Apr. 2022
  • In Rafah zoo, dozens of destitute Gazans are camping between the cages where starving monkeys, parrots and lions cry out for food 12 weeks into Israel’s offensive.
    — NBC News, 2 Jan. 2024

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'destitute.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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