divest
Americanverb (used with object)
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to strip of clothing, ornament, etc..
The wind divested the trees of their leaves.
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to strip or deprive (someone or something), especially of property or rights; dispossess.
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to rid of or free from.
He divested himself of all responsibility for the decision.
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Law. to take away or alienate (property, rights, etc.).
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Commerce.
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to sell off.
to divest holdings.
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to rid of through sale.
The corporation divested itself of its subsidiaries.
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verb
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to strip (of clothes)
to divest oneself of one's coat
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to deprive or dispossess
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property law to take away an estate or interest in property vested (in a person)
Related Words
See strip 1.
Other Word Forms
- divestible adjective
- divestiture noun
- undivested adjective
Etymology
Origin of divest
First recorded in 1595–1605; from Medieval Latin dīvestīre, equivalent to dī- di- 2 + vestīre “to dress”; vest
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.
Leerink’s Mayo says new management is doing a thorough cleanup, divesting assets the company bought over the years that no longer make sense to hold.
Not only has it exited its retail-banking units in many overseas markets, it even recently sold a roughly 25% stake in Banamex, as part of a process to divest itself of the unit.
Constellation agreed to divest six plants in Texas, Delaware, and Pennsylvania as part of an agreement announced last month with the Texas attorney general and the Department of Justice.
From Barron's
The need to pause is more pronounced now that BP has divested some of its key cash flow generating asset, Castrol, they say.
Congress passed, and the Supreme Court unanimously upheld, a law requiring the app’s Chinese owner, ByteDance, to divest and relinquish operational control of the U.S. business or be banned.
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.
