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Glite Dictionary
to bereave

to bereave

9.0
To cause someone to lose a close family member or friend by death
  • verb
  • /bɪˈriv/
  • Formal
translation icon : privar
  • Walter - WALTER, JUST BECAUSE WE'RE BEREAVED DOESN'T MEAN WE'RE SAPS! DONNELLY
  • bereaved children

Examples

  • The sudden accident bereaved the family of their beloved father.

  • MAN: Ladies and gentleman, we are gathered here today to bereave the loss of something dear to us.

    Who Killed the Electric Car? (2006)

  • Cleopatra, know that if you apply yourself to our intents, which towards you are most gentle, you shall find a benefit in this change, but if you take Antony's course, you shall bereave yourself of my good purposes.

    Antony and Cleopatra (1972)

  • Not even the innocent babe in the cradle was safe from their malice; their schemes at once bereaving mother of child and child of human love.

    Fiction book (2000)

  • Losing her husband early in life bereaved her of the companionship she had cherished.

  • The war bereaved many children of their parents, leaving them orphaned and alone.

Synonyms

to mourn
vsto bereave
191 3.0

Feel or show deep sadness after someone dies

causes that sadness by taking away a loved one through death
to grieve
vsto bereave
95 4.1

To make someone feel very sad

causes sadness by depriving someone of a loved one through death

Surface Forms

bereave infinitive
bereaving present participle
bereaves third person singular
bereaved past
bereaved past participle

Morphology

bereave = reave (semi-transparent) = be + reave + be

Formed by the productive prefix 'be-' on 'reave' meaning 'deprive', but current usage is typically restricted to loss by death, so the meaning is narrowed.

Etymology

The word bereave comes from the old parts be- and reave, where reave means 'to rob'. So think of death as a kind of 'robber' that takes away someone you love, and to bereave someone is to have a loved one taken away by death.