bereft
/bi'vi:v/
Học thuậtThân thiện
Definition
- 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
- sorrowful through loss or deprivation
- bereft of hope
- unhappy in love; suffering from unrequited love