different between needy vs destitute

English

Etymology

From Middle English nedy, nedi (“necessitous”), from Old English n?di?, *n?edi? ("of need, obligated, compelled"; found in the derivative n?edi?nes (“obligation”)), from Proto-Germanic *naudigaz (“of need, forced, compelled”), equivalent to need +? -y. Cognate with Scots nedy, neidy (“needy, necessitous, impoverished”), Saterland Frisian niedich (“miserable, poor, wretched, needy”), Saterland Frisian nöödich (“necessary, needful”), West Frisian nedich (“needful, needed”), Dutch nodig (“necessary”), Middle Low German n?dich (“necessary, urgent, by requirement”), German nötig (“necessary, needful”), Danish nødig (“necessary”), Swedish nödig (“necessary”), Icelandic nauðugur (“constrained”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?ni?di/
• Rhymes: -i?di

Adjective

needy (comparative needier, superlative neediest)

1. In need; poor.

   Needy people want to give too, but have few material goods to offer.

   • 29 February 2012, Aidan Foster-Carter, BBC News North Korea: The denuclearisation dance resumes [1]

     Such monitoring has often been a sticking point in the past, amid fears that food aid might be diverted to the Northern elite - or its military - rather than the needy.

2. Desiring constant affirmation; lacking self-confidence.

   It's emotionally exhausting to be around her because she's so needy.

3. (archaic) Needful; necessary.
   • 1861, Isaak August Dorner, Patrick Fairbairn, History of the development of the doctrine of the person of Christ

     It is the measure of things, and their time (that is, their measure, as to space and time), and yet it is above, and prior to, time: it is full in needy things, and overflows in full things; it is unutterable, innominable: it is above understanding […]

Synonyms

• (in need): See also Thesaurus:impoverished

Antonyms

• (desiring constant affirmation): confident, self-sufficient

Derived terms

• neediness

Translations

Anagrams

• Edney

English

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /?d?st?tju?t/
• (yod coalescence) IPA^(key): /?d?st?t?u?t/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /?d?st?tu?t/
• Hyphenation: des?ti?tute

Etymology 1

From Middle English destitute, destitut, from Latin d?stit?tus.

Adjective

destitute (comparative more destitute, superlative most destitute)

1. (followed by the preposition "of") Lacking something; devoid
   • 1827, James Fenimore Cooper, The Prairie Chapter 9

     Now, though this region may scarcely be said to be wedded to science, being to all intents a virgin territory as respects the enquirer into natural history, still it is greatly destitute of the treasures of the vegetable kingdom.

   • 1611 King James Bible, Psalms 141:8

     In thee is my trust; leave not my soul destitute.

2. lacking money; poor, impoverished
   • May 24, 2018, Alex Vadukul in The New York Times, The Forgotten Entertainer Rag

     In 1907 he moved from St. Louis to New York City, arriving as a famous composer. But he died a decade later at the age of 49, destitute in an asylum on Wards Island as ragtime was fading in popularity.

   • 1918, Henry Leyford Gates translating Aurora Mardiganian, Ravished Armenia

     according to the most careful estimates, 3,950,000 destitute peoples, mostly women and children who had been driven many of them as far as one thousand miles from home, turn their pitiful faces toward America for help in the reconstructive period in which we are now living.

   • 1841, Charles Dickens, Barnaby Rudge, Chapter 45

     ‘Do you know how pinched and destitute I am?’ she retorted. ‘I do not think you do, or can. If you had eyes, and could look around you on this poor place, you would have pity on me. […] ’

Synonyms

• See also Thesaurus:impoverished

Translations

Etymology 2

From Middle English destituten, from the adjective (see above).

Verb

destitute (third-person singular simple present destitutes, present participle destituting, simple past and past participle destituted)

1. (transitive) To impoverish; to strip of wealth, resources, etc.

Translations

Latin

Adjective

d?stit?te

1. vocative masculine singular of d?stit?tus