destitution
/ˌdɛstɪˈtʃuːʃn/ /ˌdɛstɪˈtjuːʃn
/noun [mass noun]
Poverty so extreme that one lacks the means to provide for oneself: the family faced eviction and destitution...
- They are by far the largest group amongst the fifth of India's population who live in extreme poverty and destitution.
- If in two months stories of starvation and destitution continue to emerge out of Aceh, severe criticism will rain down on the government.
- More than two million other people from Darfur are in extreme destitution, immediately requiring aid.
Synonyms
dire poverty, extreme poverty, poverty, impoverishment, insolvency, penury, pennilessness, impecuniousness, privation, indigence, ruin, ruination, pauperdom;
hardship, neediness, need, want, reduced/straitened circumstances, dire straits, deprivation, disadvantage, distress, financial distress, difficulties;
life on the breadline;
beggary, mendicancy, vagrancy
