BEREAVE

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does bereave mean? 

• BEREAVE (verb)
  The verb BEREAVE has 1 sense:

1. deprive through death

  Familiarity information: BEREAVE used as a verb is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• BEREAVE (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they bereave    ... he / she / it bereaves   
Past simple: bereaved    / bereft   
Past participle: bereaved    / bereft   
-ing form: bereaving   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Deprive through death

Classified under:

Verbs of buying, selling, owning

Hypernyms (to "bereave" is one way to...):

deprive; divest; strip (take away possessions from someone)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s somebody of something

Derivation:

bereavement (state of sorrow over the death or departure of a loved one)

 Context examples 

A small but well-kept house in the outskirts of the town sheltered the bereaved mother.

(His Last Bow, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

It was a great augmentation of my uneasiness to be bereaved, at this eventful crisis, of the inestimable services of Miss Mills.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

Though a very social man, I think Mr. Bhaer would have gone decorously away, and come again another day, but how could he, when Jo shut the door behind him, and bereft him of his hat?

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

Bereft of his cake, defrauded of his frolic, and borne away by a strong hand to that detested bed, poor Demi could not restrain his wrath, but openly defied Papa, and kicked and screamed lustily all the way upstairs.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

The poor man was very uncomfortable, for the children had bereft him of his wife, home was merely a nursery and the perpetual 'hushing' made him feel like a brutal intruder whenever he entered the sacred precincts of Babyland.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)