bereft
adjective
No English definition recorded for this entry.
L334826 on Wikidata ↗Wiktionary
Pronunciation: /bəˈɹɛft/
adj
Etymology: From Middle English bireft, v. Middle English bireven. Synchronically a form of bereaved; compare leave and left.
- Pained by the loss of someone.
“I was utterly bereft in the months following my wife's death.”
“[Oscar] Pistorius's punishment for killing her [Reeva Steenkamp] that night is but a frippery when set against the burden that her bereft parents, June and Barry, must carry.”
- Deprived of, stripped of, robbed of.
“And there I strove, and there I clove through the drift of icy streams; / And there I fought, and there I sought for the pay-streak of my dreams. // So twenty years, with their hopes and fears and smiles and tears and such, / Went by and left me long bereft of hope of the Midas touch; […]”
“This parrot is no more! It has ceased to be! It’s expired and gone to meet its maker! This is a late parrot! It’s a stiff! Bereft of life, it rests in peace! If you hadn’t nailed it to the perch it would be pushing up the daisies!”
- Lacking, devoid of.
verb
Etymology: From Middle English bireft, v. Middle English bireven. Synchronically a form of bereaved; compare leave and left.
- simple past and past participle of bereave
“bereft of strength”
“bereft of gorm”