Definition

1. Adjective:
   • Deprived of or lacking something, especially a non-material possession: Describes a state of being stripped of or without something important, often used with "of."
   • Sorrowful through loss or deprivation: Describes a deep feeling of sadness and grief caused by having lost someone or something cherished.

Examples of Usage

• Adjective:
  • The disaster left the survivors bereft of shelter and food.
  • She looked utterly bereft after hearing the tragic news.
  • He felt bereft of all hope for the future.

Advanced Usage

• "Bereft of": This is the most common construction, used to specify what is missing or lost.

  • The report was bereft of any useful facts.
  • A landscape bereft of trees.

• Literary/Emotional Context: Often used to convey profound emotional emptiness or grief, particularly after a death.

  • The bereft widow could not be consoled.

Variants and Related Words

• Bereave (verb): To be deprived of a loved one through death. (Past tense and past participle: bereaved or bereft).
  • An accident bereaved him of his wife.
  • Note: "Bereaved" is typically used when referring to the loss of a person, while "bereft" has a broader application to loss of things, qualities, or hope.

Synonyms

• Deprived: Lacking the necessities of life or a desired attribute.
• Desolate: Feeling or showing great unhappiness or loneliness.
• Forlorn: Pitifully sad and abandoned or lonely.
• Devoid: Entirely lacking or free from.

Related Phrases

• Bereft of ideas/completely bereft: Phrases emphasizing a total lack.
  • The writer was bereft of ideas.
  • He stood there, completely bereft.

Notes on Meaning

• The word strongly implies a sense of being left desolate or empty by the loss. It is more intense than simply "without."
• While it can describe material loss (e.g., ), its most powerful use is for emotional or spiritual desolation (e.g., ).

Adjective

1. sorrowful through loss or deprivation
   • bereft of hope
2. unhappy in love; suffering from unrequited love