deprivation

[ dep-ruh-vey-shuhn ]

noun

1. the act of depriving.
2. the fact of being deprived. deprive.
3. dispossession; loss.
4. removal from ecclesiastical office.
5. privation.

deprivation

/ ˌdɛprɪˈveɪʃən /

noun

1. an act or instance of depriving
2. the state of being deprived

   a cycle of deprivation and violence

   social deprivation

Other Words From

• nondep·ri·vation noun
• predep·ri·vation noun
• self-depri·vation noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of deprivation¹

First recorded in 1525–35; from Medieval Latin dēprīvātiōn-, stem of dēprīvātiō, from dēprīvāt(us) “deprived” (past participle of dēprīvāre “to deprive”; deprive ) + -iō -ion

Example Sentences

That finding offered a window into the effects of long-term parental deprivation on stress responses.

From Science News

To single out the effects of early hardship, Gunnar needed children who had started life in deprivation but then moved into healthy, supportive environments after infancy.

From Science News

To study these effects, Gunnar needed children who had felt deprivation in infancy, then moved into healthy, supportive homes.

From Science News For Students

The first studies to investigate total sleep deprivation had a maniacal quality to them.

From Quanta Magazine

In fact, control rats managed to sleep about 70% as much as they normally would, suffering only mild sleep deprivation.

From Quanta Magazine

Zubaydah and two other detainees were subsequently waterboarded, and subjected to other methods including sleep deprivation.

From The Daily Beast

Detainees there were subject to sleep deprivation, shackled to bars with their hands above their heads.

From The Daily Beast

He was slapped, grabbed in the face, placed in stress positions, placed in standing sleep deprivation, and doused with water.

From The Daily Beast

Neurons begin to die within four to six minutes of oxygen deprivation.

From The Daily Beast

But delay hurts, deprivation is unfair, and waiting (and waiting) matters.

From The Daily Beast

It is astonishing how deeply I felt this deprivation, and how much more horrible my solitude now appeared.

From Project Gutenberg

They could, besides, be judged from the standpoint of deprivation, comparing them to each other as if they contained some form.

From Project Gutenberg

By this one deprivation his contact with man had ruined him for the life of nature.

From Project Gutenberg

The only punishment suffered in these cases is the deprivation of the power of seeing fairies, or banishment from their society.

From Project Gutenberg

It would be hard to imagine any deprivation greater than that to which this misfortune condemned the explorers.

From Project Gutenberg

Related Words

• destitution
• hardship
• privation