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bereaved

bereaved

2 7.8
A person who has lost someone they loved to death
  • noun
  • /bɪˈrivd/
  • Formal
translation icon : persona en duelo
  • All this money that we raise is to help provide headstones for bereaved parents and I cannot thank you guys enough.
  • bereaved families
  • Helping the bereaved

I felt like the bereaved was my sister in grief.

Examples

  • He was a small man with a persuasive and comforting manner, evolved from years of addressing the bereaved.

    Fiction book (2001)
  • The bereaved will have to forgo the dubious comforts that a funeral service will give.

  • I just wanna say to the bereaved, it's gonna be all right.

  • Strength-Based Collaboration to Support Bereaved Children.

    Academic text (2008)
  • Combating Isolation Among Bereaved Children

    Academic text (2011)
  • - People behave oddly around the bereaved.

  • In front of me is Widener Library, a gift from a bereaved mother named in honor of her son Harry, who perished aboard the Titanic.

  • It was within the community, with hardly any help even from the state government, let alone the national government, that the sick had to be cared for, widows helped, orphans sheltered, order preserved, malefactors punished, and the bereaved comforted.

    Academic text (1991)
  • According to Hanni Woodbury, the function of these addresses is to lift the pain of mourning and loss, to restore the bereaved to normality, and to help them resume their ordinary social relationships, with the help of the Finisher of Faculties, the Master of All, the Sky Rememberer.

    Academic text (1995)
  • The support group is designed to help the bereaved cope with their grief after losing a loved one.

Synonyms

mourner
vsbereaved
39 4.0

A person who feels sad because someone has died

is for someone who has lost a loved person rather than casual grieving
griever
vsbereaved
1 7.2

A person who feels deep sadness after someone close dies

is the condition of having lost a loved person rather than merely feeling grief
bereaved person
vsbereaved
  • Formal
6.7

A person whose close family member or friend has died

is the shorter single-word label for the same personal loss
lamenter
vsbereaved
  • Literature
7.7

A person who shows sadness at a funeral or after a death

is about personally suffering a loved one's death rather than outward expression
sorrower
vsbereaved
8.4

A person who feels deep sadness after losing someone

refers specifically to someone who suffered a loved one's death rather than general sadness

Compounds

6.7

A person whose close family member or friend has died

How Sad

bereaved
  • Formal
2 7.8
griever
1 7.2
sorrower
8.4
mourner
39 4.0

Surface Forms

bereaved singular
bereaved plural

Morphology

bereaved = bereave (semi-transparent) = bereave + ed

The form is built transparently from bereave + -ed, but the noun sense is a conventional substantivized use of the participial adjective.

Etymology

Bereaved comes from the old verb bereave, which means 'to take away'. So a bereaved person is someone who has had a loved one taken away and is feeling deep loss.