Causing destitution or poverty; that which reduces someone to a state of want or deprivation.
From Latin 'destituens' (present participle of 'destituere'), meaning 'to abandon, leave in the lurch.' The prefix 'de-' (away) combines with 'stituere' (to set, place), literally 'to set away from.'
This is a rare adjective, but 'destituent forces'—economic collapse, war, disease—are common in history; the word captures how external conditions can strip people of everything.
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