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:
Lamberth said the Bureau of Prisons’ new regulation would “arbitrarily deprive inmates of medications and other lifestyle accommodations that its own medical staff have deemed to be medically appropriate.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 21, 2026
Kingdom, the administration has asked the court, on the emergency docket, to lift an injunction currently preventing it from implementing policies that seek to deprive trans prisoners of much-needed healthcare and social accommodations.
From Slate ● Oct. 6, 2026
To deprive oneself of this film because of Mizrahi’s views would be to deny utter exhilaration.
From Salon ● Sep. 5, 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
Ischemic heart disease occurs when reduced blood flow deprives the heart muscle of the oxygen it needs, often because arteries have narrowed or become blocked.
From Science Daily ● Nov. 2, 2026
“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
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
The findings suggested that cells deprived of Mitch were changing how they distributed and used these lipids, drawing on some of their available fatty resources to support increased energy consumption.
From Science Daily ● Oct. 24, 2026
"But I was still deprived of any choice over my own death by the current messy criminal law."
From BBC ● Oct. 20, 2026
A federal judge ruled for Asian parents and said their students had been deprived of a “level playing field” in competing for admission.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 19, 2026
He said this restriction "led to the disruption of a number of missions" and deprived Ukraine of its ability to fight Russian jet-powered drones.
From Barron's ● Oct. 14, 2026
He thought Lawrence’s endorsement of a policy that deprived his lab of its entire theoretical physics staff disgraceful.
From "Big Science" by Michael Hiltzik
They don’t need to know their father is a deadbeat dad and is depriving them of their college fund.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 27, 2026
Habba apparently hasn’t yet collected her fee, and this revelation may just end up depriving her of most of it.
From Salon ● Oct. 22, 2026
Pitch Nine will be out of action until 2029 at the earliest, depriving Lord's of one of its main TV pitches.
From BBC ● Oct. 21, 2026
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
Like his brother, Pierrot had the knack of depriving his lines of any sense.
From "Atonement" by Ian McEwan
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Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
