deprive
Americanverb (used with object)
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deprives,
present (3rd person singular)
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deprived,
past participle, past
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depriving
present participle
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to remove or withhold something from the enjoyment or possession of (a person or persons).
to deprive a man of life; to deprive a baby of candy.
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to remove from ecclesiastical office.
verb
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(foll by of) to prevent from possessing or enjoying; dispossess (of)
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archaic to remove from rank or office; depose; demote
Synonym Usage
See strip 1.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
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deprivalnoun
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deprivernoun
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predepriveverb (used with object)
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deprivableadjective
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deprivativeadjective
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nondeprivableadjective
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self-deprivingadjective
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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deprivesimple
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deprivessimple
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have deprivedperfect
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has deprivedperfect
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am deprivingprogressive
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are deprivingprogressive
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is deprivingprogressive
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have been deprivingperfect progressive
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has been deprivingperfect progressive
Past
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deprivedsimple
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had deprivedperfect
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was deprivingprogressive
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were deprivingprogressive
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had been deprivingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of deprive
First recorded in 1275–1325; Middle English depriven, from Anglo-French, Old French depriver, from Medieval Latin dēprīvāre, equivalent to Latin dē- de- + prīvāre “to deprive” ( prīv(us) private + -āre infinitive suffix)
Explanation
Deprive means to keep from having. If your little brother gets loud and hyper every time he eats sweets, your parents might deprive him of sugary cereal and candy. Deprive can also mean to take away something that someone already had, or feels they deserve to have, like basic human rights. "A crowd gathered to protest the man's imprisonment for a crime he did not commit; they didn't want to allow the government to deprive him of his freedom." The word comes from the Latin, de", which means "entirely," and privare, which means "release from." Put together, they mean to "entirely release from." In this case, the imprisoned man's freedom is being "entirely released," or taken away, and he'll no longer have it.
Vocabulary lists containing deprive
The Declaration of Independence
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Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka (1954)
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Freak the Mighty
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
Butts said the measure would deprive the city of an $8-million annual revenue source.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 22, 2026
What did we need him for when we could just buy the Bitcoin ourselves and deprive him of the arbitrage?
From Slate ● Sep. 20, 2026
So while Murrill’s desire to deprive exonerees of money is terrible, Alexander said, her efforts to prevent them from having their names officially cleared are truly reprehensible.
From Salon ● Aug. 10, 2026
The reversal follows criticism from teachers, nutritionists and parents who argued that removing eggs from school lunches could deprive children from poor families a key source of protein.
From Barron's ● Jul. 30, 2026
Jim grinned, then clapped Dad on the shoulder and said no righteous God would deprive a man of homemade strawberry ice cream on a hot summer afternoon.
From "Educated" by Tara Westover
These disabilities can occur because a stroke deprives parts of the brain of oxygen or causes bleeding that destroys brain cells.
From Science Daily ● Sep. 22, 2026
But I saw, up close, how thoroughly the system deprives people from the lifelines of family connection they need.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 5, 2026
His death also deprives Trump of one of his most trusted allies on Capitol Hill.
From Salon ● Jul. 13, 2026
Cleage gives the women plenty of substance, though her novelistic mode — more telling than showing — deprives her drama of style.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 19, 2026
Reacting to the portrait in “a direct, straightforward fashion,” without the benefit of additional knowledge, deprives us of an understanding that is necessary for full appreciation.
From "History of Art, Volume 1" by H.W. Janson
"That delay deprived the deceased of timely and appropriate assessment and treatment at the Royal Victoria Hospital for pneumonia and sepsis and materially contributed to his premature death."
From BBC ● Sep. 23, 2026
In short order, wrote California historian Kevin Starr, the city was deprived “of its central landmark,” a river that was “possessed of its own special sort of greatness.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 17, 2026
The UVM team instead asked what would happen if cancer cells were deprived of one of their most important antioxidant defenses.
From Science Daily ● Sep. 17, 2026
In particular, opponents said, the Postal Service rules would have deprived millions of Americans of the ability to vote because many jurisdictions wouldn’t have had any feasible way to comply in time for the midterms.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 14, 2026
My father said it was because she had been deprived of learning for so long.
From "Malala: The Girl Who Stood Up for Education and Changed the World" by Malala Yousafzai
The squeeze is depriving Tehran of its main source of foreign currency, exacerbating the economic crisis as the value of the Iranian rial plunges and inflation runs at more than 80% year-over-year.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 10, 2026
Though hugely popular with visitors, short-term lodgings are blamed by residents in many popular travel destinations for depriving locals of apartments for long-term rent and pushing up prices.
From Barron's ● Sep. 9, 2026
In 2023, his team reported that depriving colon cancer cells of arginine caused them to accumulate more mutations.
From Science Daily ● Aug. 3, 2026
They suffer from elevated nutrient levels, which can lead to the growth of algae, depriving fish and other aquatic life of oxygen.
From BBC ● Jul. 22, 2026
With a quiet groan to himself he gave up on the idea, knowing he’d feel too guilty about depriving her of valuable sleep.
From "The Kill Order (Maze Runner, Book Four; Origin)" by James Dashner
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
