the destitute

noun

: people who are extremely poor : needy people
The charity provides food and clothing for the destitute.

Examples of the destitute in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
This was a man who had lengthy experience in surviving far from luxuriant conditions, firstly from his time living with the destitute of Paris and London as part of his first successful non-fiction volume and secondly as a fighter for the Republican cause in the Spanish Civil War. Rob Crossan, JSTOR Daily, 15 Nov. 2024 Its mission is to help the poor, the imprisoned, the destitute, the hungry, the aged, and victims of disaster locally, nationally, and internationally. Encinitas Advocate, San Diego Union-Tribune, 9 Jan. 2024 The Roman Catholic nun, who dedicated her life to caring for the destitute in India, officially became Saint Teresa of Calcutta nearly 20 years after her death on Sept. 5, 1997. The Arizona Republic, 4 Sep. 2024 The earmark of a great nation is how its people treat the destitute or the underprivileged who began life in figurative chains. Armstrong Williams, Baltimore Sun, 20 July 2024 In the 1990s, tennis-world stars such as Billie Jean King and journalist Bud Collins raised money for the destitute Gibson, but there wasn’t much oversight. Patrick Sauer, Washington Post, 23 Aug. 2023 But even by that standard, the coronavirus’s outsize impact on the destitute and vulnerable is striking. Robert Malley, Foreign Affairs, 8 June 2020 Its mission is to help the poor, the imprisoned, the destitute, the hungry, the aged and victims of disaster. San Diego Union-Tribune, 21 Dec. 2022 The flood of Tunisian émigrés spans socioeconomic classes, with professionals, the working class and the destitute represented among those fleeing, as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine pushes up the price of food and gas, and the government pulls back from subsidizing basic items such as sugar and rice. Chao Deng, WSJ, 14 Dec. 2022

Dictionary Entries Near the destitute

Cite this Entry

“The destitute.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/the%20destitute. Accessed 24 Dec. 2024.

Last Updated: - Updated example sentences
Love words? Need even more definitions?

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!