deprive

deprive — verb

1. to take or keep something away from someone that they need or should have, such

1.verbtransitiveB2
Definition

to take or keep something away from someone that they need or should have, such as food, freedom, or education, leaving them without it.

Example

Sana was deprived of sleep for three nights because of her new baby's crying.

passive: be deprived of [something needed]

The court's decision would deprive thousands of children of access to education.

Common collocations
  • deprive of sleep
  • deprive of freedom
  • deprive of rights
  • deprive of education
  • deprive of opportunity
Synonyms
  • take away

    more general and neutral; can be used in everyday situations without the formal weight of 'deprive'

  • strip

    stronger; suggests complete, often forceful removal (e.g. strip someone of power)

  • rob

    implies theft or dishonesty; focuses on the victim's loss (e.g. rob someone of their chance)

  • withhold

    means keeping something back rather than actively removing it (e.g. withhold information)

Antonyms
  • provide

    to supply what is needed, the opposite of taking away

  • grant

    to give or allow something, the opposite of withholding

Grammar Patterns

deprive + someone/something + of + something

Usage Note

Frequently used in the passive voice ('be deprived of'). Always takes the preposition 'of' — never 'from'. The direct object is the person or thing that loses something, and the thing taken away follows 'of'.

Common Mistakes

The robbers deprived him from his money.
The robbers deprived him of his money.
'deprive' always uses 'of', not 'from'.
They deprived his money.
They deprived him of his money.
'deprive' requires a person or entity as the direct object, with the taken thing following 'of'.

Word family

  • deprived
    adjectiveB2
  • deprivation
    nounB2
  • depriving
    adjectiveC1

Synonym discussion

Sense: verb/1

Take away is the most general and neutral term — you can take away a toy from a child or take away someone's rights, with no extra connotation beyond the act of removal. Strip suggests a more aggressive, complete removal, often by force (strip a politician of power, strip a car of its parts). Rob implies taking something by theft or dishonesty and focuses on the victim's loss (the scam robbed her of her savings). Withhold is about keeping something back rather than actively removing it — a teacher might withhold praise from a student. In practice: 'The government deprived citizens of their right to vote' (formal, systemic); you would not say 'the government took away citizens of their right to vote' because the pattern is different. 'Deprive' requires the 'of' structure and is typical in legal, social, and formal contexts.

take away ↗striprob ↗withhold ↗

Common collocations

Nouns

Adverbs

  • unfairly deprived
  • completely deprived
  • deliberately deprived

Phrases

  • deprive of the right to
  • deprive of the opportunity to
  • deprive of access to

Prepositions

Etymology

LatinOld FrenchEnglish

Deprive comes from the Latin word deprivare, meaning 'to separate from' or 'take away.' This was formed from de- ('away, from') and privare ('to rob, to separate'), which in turn came from privus meaning 'one's own' or 'private.' The word entered English through Old French depriver in the 1300s, and over time developed its modern sense of taking away something that someone needs or is entitled to.