What's the difference between destitute and poor?

Destitute


Definition:

  • (a.) Forsaken; not having in possession (something necessary, or desirable); deficient; lacking; devoid; -- often followed by of.
  • (a.) Not possessing the necessaries of life; in a condition of want; needy; without possessions or resources; very poor.
  • (v. t.) To leave destitute; to forsake; to abandon.
  • (v. t.) To make destitute; to cause to be in want; to deprive; -- followed by of.
  • (v. t.) To disappoint.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) As one of the richest countries in the world it is beyond belief that the richest get a top rate tax cut while the poorest are being forced into deepening destitution," he said.
  • (2) Depictions of them by the likes of the Daily Mail as destitute Roma, desperate to leave shacks in the shanty towns of Sofia, are denounced as discriminatory and ill-informed.
  • (3) It is a chain of ragged destitution, on the doorstep – sometimes literally – of phenomenal wealth generation.
  • (4) For the most part, their journeys pass unseen, until they hit a barrier – the English Channel; the lines of police at Ventimiglia on the Italy-France border; the forests of Macedonia – that creates a bottleneck and leads to scenes of destitution and chaos.
  • (5) The government has just announced emergency aid for the destitute and the Greek Orthodox Church has revealed it is feeding 250,000 people a day.
  • (6) Housing First simply can’t tackle the problem – especially not in Skid Row, the downtown Los Angeles area synonymous with destitution.
  • (7) Four years since this crisis began, Syria’s people have been plunged into the dark: destitute, fearful, and grieving for the friends they have lost and the country they once knew,” said David Miliband, president and CEO of the International Rescue Committee.
  • (8) Until the early 2000s, the South had been presented to North Koreans in their official media as a destitute, near-starving colony of US imperialists.
  • (9) The need for a free medical sevice and rehabilitation of the disabled destitutes in Lagos is highlighted.
  • (10) The disease, destruction, and destitution created by the recent conflicts in the Persian Gulf have resulted in increased international travel to affected countries for relief and reconstruction.
  • (11) Meanwhile, thousands of Haitians displaced by the disaster continue to live in makeshift housing, squalor and destitution.
  • (12) No one wants to support a charity or business that puts sick, disabled and unemployed people to work without pay on threat of destitution, and that is why workfare schemes will ultimately collapse."
  • (13) On Wednesday they debate the social fund – an awkward lump in the social security system, small potatoes, yet a last lifeline for the utterly destitute.
  • (14) Many of these children are destitute without families or from very poor landless families in rural areas.
  • (15) The subsequent property crash leaves the couple – and the rest of the island, and indeed the whole state – bankrupt and near destitute.
  • (16) Photograph: AAP In her famous 1913 pamphlet, Round about a pound a week , Maud Pember Reeves wrote contemptuously about “the gospel of porridge” – the idea, still common among the wealthy, that the destitute wouldn’t be so wretched if only they invested their money wisely.
  • (17) The RNIB's threat of legal action comes as Archbishop Nichols, the most senior Catholic in England and Wales, said the Coalition's benefits system was becoming increasingly "punitive" and was leaving people destitute .
  • (18) I guess time will tell.” Gopman spent the first half of 2015 expressing regret for dissing the destitute and attempting to tackle the problem.
  • (19) A middle-class made destitute in 2007-08 has been restored, Coltart added.
  • (20) In addition, recognised refugees have only a matter of days to move out of reception centres once their applications are successful, at which time they stop receiving monthly stipends and risk becoming destitute.

Poor


Definition:

  • (superl.) Destitute of property; wanting in material riches or goods; needy; indigent.
  • (superl.) So completely destitute of property as to be entitled to maintenance from the public.
  • (superl.) Destitute of such qualities as are desirable, or might naturally be expected
  • (superl.) Wanting in fat, plumpness, or fleshiness; lean; emaciated; meager; as, a poor horse, ox, dog, etc.
  • (superl.) Wanting in strength or vigor; feeble; dejected; as, poor health; poor spirits.
  • (superl.) Of little value or worth; not good; inferior; shabby; mean; as, poor clothes; poor lodgings.
  • (superl.) Destitute of fertility; exhausted; barren; sterile; -- said of land; as, poor soil.
  • (superl.) Destitute of beauty, fitness, or merit; as, a poor discourse; a poor picture.
  • (superl.) Without prosperous conditions or good results; unfavorable; unfortunate; unconformable; as, a poor business; the sick man had a poor night.
  • (superl.) Inadequate; insufficient; insignificant; as, a poor excuse.
  • (superl.) Worthy of pity or sympathy; -- used also sometimes as a term of endearment, or as an expression of modesty, and sometimes as a word of contempt.
  • (superl.) Free from self-assertion; not proud or arrogant; meek.
  • (n.) A small European codfish (Gadus minutus); -- called also power cod.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) There was appreciable variation in toothbrush wear among subjects, some reducing their brush to a poor state in 2 weeks whereas with others the brush was rated as "good" after 10 weeks.
  • (2) However, medicines have an important part to play, and it is now generally agreed that for the very poor populations medicines should be restricted to those on an 'essential drugs list' and should be made available as cheaply as possible.
  • (3) Inadequate treatment, caused by a lack of drugs and poorly trained medical attendants, is also a major problem.
  • (4) Clonazepam was added to the treatment of patients with poorly controlled epilepsy in a double-blind trial and an open trial.
  • (5) "There is a serious risk that a deal will be agreed between rich countries and tax havens that would leave poor countries out in the cold.
  • (6) The dangers caused by PM10s was highlighted in the Rogers review of local authority regulatory services, published in 2007, which said poor air quality contributed to between 12,000 and 24,000 premature deaths each year.
  • (7) Maybe the world economy goes tits up again, only this time we punish the rich instead of the poor.
  • (8) Poor radioresponders of glioblastoma with CEA should be reoperated.
  • (9) Poor lipophilicity and extremely low plasma concentrations impose severe constraints.
  • (10) However, each of the studies had numerous methodological flaws which biased their results against finding a relationship: either their outcome measures had questionable validity, their research designs were inappropriate, or the statistical analyses were poorly conceived.
  • (11) Symptoms were poorly localized in all these IPS osteomyelitis patients.
  • (12) Prognosis of patients with these autonomic failures is poor.
  • (13) All patients in Stages I and II (5 out of 26) who developed metastases had poorly differentiated (histological Type III) tumours.
  • (14) This study provides strong and unexpected evidence that one admission to hospital of more than a week's duration or repeated admissions before the age of five years (in particular between six months and four years) are associated with an increased risk of behaviour disturbance and poor reading in adolescence.
  • (15) Patients were divided into two groups: poor outcome, defined by the death or a post-operative Karnofsky index less than or equal to 70 (n = 36), and good outcome defined by a Karnofsky index of 80 or more (n = 60).
  • (16) Improvement of its particularly poor prognosis requires therefore early screening based on reliable biological markers.
  • (17) It has a poor prognosis prior to the current combined treatment of surgical ablation, radiation to the surgical field, and chemotherapy for microscopic metastases.
  • (18) Photograph: AP Reasons for wavering • State relies on coal-fired electricity • Poor prospects for wind power • Conservative Democrat • Represents conservative district in conservative state and was elected on narrow margins Campaign support from fossil fuel interests in 2008 • $93,743 G K Butterfield (North Carolina) GK Butterfield, North Carolina.
  • (19) There were significant differences in the mean erythrocyte transketolase activity of the thiaminase excreting poor animals and the thiaminase free normal animals.
  • (20) In this material the ultrastructural details are very poorly preserved.