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:
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
“We don’t want to deprive law enforcement if this is indeed a helpful tool,” said Steele.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 26, 2026
Yet Mr. Kelly is willing to deprive the neediest children of access to the greatest blessing America could offer: a high-quality education.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 18, 2026
The CPS says people smugglers are "only in it for the money" and it works to deprive them of their profits "wherever possible".
From BBC ● May 18, 2026
“Well, I usually prefer to get it right on the first try, but I’d hate to deprive you.”
From "Dumplin'" by Julie Murphy
“Not building the technology deprives humanity of benefits or simply places AI in the hands of authoritarian powers, while building it too fast is reckless.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 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
This particularly deprives eastern parts of the country of rainfall and sees a later start to the northern wet season -- though less chance of tropical cyclones.
From Barron's ● Jun. 11, 2026
Perhaps that’s Zhao’s point, that loss deprives us of the people we once were.
From Salon ● Nov. 30, 2025
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
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
It was a major setback that deprived the IBA of a key source of its international influence.
From Salon ● Sep. 14, 2026
Neeley shouldn’t be deprived because Francie had felt like changing schools.
From "A Tree Grows in Brooklyn" by Betty Smith
Perhaps due to a paucity of sources, Mr. Mancall dispenses quickly with events before 1450, depriving readers of a deep look at indigenous life before the arrival of Europeans.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 18, 2026
So he stood down, depriving the internet of a highlight reel that would have made him famous.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 6, 2026
Outside the Gravelines plant, the largest in Western Europe, the shutdowns or production reductions affecting other reactors are linked to extreme heat and droughts, depriving the plants of the water they need for cooling.
From Barron's ● Aug. 12, 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
Warburg’s ideas received confirmation in 1953 when other workers were able to turn normal cells into cancer cells merely by depriving them of oxygen intermittently over long periods.
From "Silent Spring" by Rachel Carson
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.
