A. E. WierThe Times Literary Supplement (London)
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In Old English, the verb berēafian meant "to plunder or rob." The modern equivalent (and descendant) of berēafian is bereave, a verb that implies that you have robbed or stripped someone of something, often suddenly and unexpectedly, and sometimes by force. Bereft comes from the past participle of bereave; Shakespeare uses the participle in The Merchant of Venice, when Bassanio tells Portia, "Madam, you have bereft me of all words." But by Shakespeare's day bereft was also being used as an adjective. The Bard uses it in The Taming of the Shrew, as a newly obedient and docile Katharina declares, "A woman mov'd is like a fountain troubled—muddy, … thick, bereft of beauty."
Examples of bereft in a Sentence
Stanley Kauffmann, New Republic, 31 Jan. 2000
… made the tabloids when his wife ran off to France with her dentist and the bereft realtor placed a newspaper ad for a girl to adopt to keep him company.
—Neal Gabler, Life: The Movie, 1998
It's not that the country was completely bereft of humor.
—Joseph Contrevas, Newsweek, 6 June 1994
to one investigator, the bereft woman seemed to be taking the sudden death of her rich husband amazingly well
a cheap motel completely bereft of all amenities
Thomas Floyd, Washington Post, 6 Apr. 2024
Feeling supported by your partner is a crucial need and its absence can leave you feeling bereft and alienated.
—Mark Travers, Forbes, 29 Mar. 2024
As Céline launches a charm offensive — a kind of maternal seduction, even — on the boy, Alice grows ever more anxiously protective: Is her bereft neighbor merely seeking an outlet for her grief, or enacting some kind of covetous revenge?
—Guy Lodge, Variety, 27 Mar. 2024
American men’s tennis has been especially bereft and starves for its next star.
—Greg Cote, Miami Herald, 24 Mar. 2024
Housing is the perennial white whale, given how many buyers are bereft at the dearth of affordable options.
—Jane Thier, Fortune, 23 Mar. 2024
In it, Levy moves beyond Schitt’s Creeks’ theatre of the absurd and deep into the shadows of the bereft.
—Jason Sheeler, Peoplemag, 13 Jan. 2024
At the time the bereft Kennedys moved in, the eight-bedroom, six-bathroom house was owned by W. Averell Harriman, the former governor of New York, and his wife Pamela Churchill Harriman, whose first husband, Randolph Churchill, was the only son of British Prime Minister Winston Churchill.
—Stephanie Sengwe, Peoplemag, 1 Sep. 2023
In 2019, an unthinkable tragedy struck: Chris' mother died unexpectedly in the days between his two performances at Coachella, leaving him bereft.
—Owen Myers, EW.com, 8 June 2023
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'bereft.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
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“Bereft.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/bereft. Accessed 18 Apr. 2024.
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bereft
adjective
More from Merriam-Webster on bereft
Nglish: Translation of bereft for Spanish Speakers
Britannica English: Translation of bereft for Arabic Speakers
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