deprive

[dih-prahyv]

verb (used with object)

deprived, depriving 

1. 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.

2. to remove from ecclesiastical office.

deprive

/ dɪˈpraɪv /

verb

1. (foll by of) to prevent from possessing or enjoying; dispossess (of)

2. archaic,  to remove from rank or office; depose; demote

Other Word Forms

• deprivable adjective
• deprival noun
• deprivative adjective
• depriver noun
• nondeprivable adjective
• predeprive verb (used with object)
• self-depriving adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of deprive¹

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)

Word History and Origins

Origin of deprive¹

C14: from Old French depriver, from Medieval Latin dēprīvāre, from Latin _de- + prīvāre to deprive of, rob; see _private

Synonym Study

See strip ¹.

Example Sentences

Drugmakers opposed most-favored-nation pricing, arguing that it would deprive them of funding needed to develop future medicines and that it could jeopardize the billions in the recently announced planned investments.

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Above ground it is a low-slung angular wisp of an object, whose cladding in mirrored steel deprives it of any sense of form or substance.

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The two boys subjected to the 2017 beatings were subsequently deprived of food and left for weeks to sleep in the open.

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Russia’s campaign against Ukraine’s energy infrastructure is designed to punish civilians by depriving them of heat and electricity over the cold winter months, in the hope that Kyiv will bend to Moscow’s will.

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The US had described the five - from Jamaica, Cuba, Laos, Vietnam and Yemen - as "deprived monsters".

Read more on BBC

Related Words

• bankrupt 
• bereave 
• dispossess 
• divest 
• rob 
• strip