bereave
verb (used with object)
to deprive and make desolate, especially by death (usually followed byof ).
had bereft
-
past perfectof bereave.past perfect
Used to express a completed action that took place before another specific past action occurred.
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.
At Paris, in the headquarters of General Joffre, commanding the French forces, the shock had bereft most officers of any plan except continued retreat.
From Time Magazine Archive
Mr. Hearty looked at the sea of faces outside as an actor suffering from stage-fright might gaze at the audience that had bereft him of the power to speak or move.
From Bindle Some Chapters in the Life of Joseph Bindle by Herbert George Jenkins
The colour had returned to her face when she stood up, but those few moments of weakness had bereft her of her self-control.
From The Top of the World by Ethel M. (Ethel May) Dell
She darned my stockings for me, she starched and folded my chokers, and she sowed on the habsent buttons of which time and chance had bereft my linning.
From The Wolves and the Lamb by William Makepeace Thackeray
What else could have made Titus, without the least demur, so liberal in sharing his most ample patrimony with Gisippus, whom fortune had bereft of his own?
From The Decameron of Giovanni Boccaccio by John Payne
