ENGLISH
REFERENCE

deprive

v.
C1 Advanced Oxford US //dɪˈpɹaɪv// UK //dɪpɹˈaɪv// de·prive

v. to take something away from someone or prevent them from having something they need. You use this when someone is missing a basic necessity like sleep, food, or freedom.

v. to prevent a person or place from having or using something, especially something essential. Transitive; almost exclusively used in the pattern 'deprive someone of something'.


SIMPLE

Working late every night will deprive you of sleep.

CONTEXTUAL

The new law would effectively deprive many citizens of their right to vote in the upcoming election.

COMPLEX

The harsh economic sanctions were intended to deprive the regime of the resources necessary to continue the conflict, though they primarily impacted the civilian population's access to medicine.

Synonyms
Antonyms
Origin

From Middle English depryven, from Old French depriver, from Medieval Latin dēprīvō, from Latin dē- + prīvō.

Usage

The verb is transitive and requires the preposition 'of' before the thing being taken away.

Pitfall

to deprive someone from somethingto deprive someone of somethingDeprive always takes the preposition 'of' rather than 'from'.

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