deprivation

Etymology

It is borrowed from Medieval Latin dēprīvātiō (“the action of depriving; deposition”),^{[2][3][4][5][6]} recorded from the 14th century in British sources.^[2] The Latin noun is formed from dēprīvātus, the past participle of dēprīvō (“to deprive”),^[2][6][7] with the suffix -iō.^[2][8] The verb is formed from dē- (“entirely”) and prīvō (“to deprive, rob, strip”).^[3] It is related to deprive, private and privation.^[3][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

The loss of something useful or valuable, or the withholding of it from a person: 1445, in a record of visitations of religious houses.^[2] Etymonline and the Oxford Dictionary of English give the earliest sense as removal from an office, especially a church office, from the mid-15th century,^[3][5] which the revised OED dates to 1491.^[2]

Semantic evolution

The word belonged at first to church administration: the removal of a clergyman from his office or benefice, usually as a punishment, a use the OED records from 1491.^[2][7] Johnson (1755) gave this legal sense, after Phillips, beside the general "act of depriving, or taking away from",^[9] which Etymonline dates to the 1530s.^[3] From the late 18th century, first in 1794, it came to mean a lack of adequate resources, education or care that lowers a person's standard of living or chances in life,^[2] the sense of phrases such as social deprivation.^[10] Etymonline dates the sense "state of being deprived" to 1889.^[3] From 1853 it was combined with a word naming what is withheld, as in sleep deprivation.^[2]

Timeline

• 1445 – the loss or withholding of something valuable.^[2]
• 1479 – with from, naming what is lost.^[2]
• 1491 – removal from an office, especially in the church.^[2]
• 1530s – the act of depriving, a taking away.^[3]
• 1794 – a lack of adequate resources, education or care.^[2]
• 1853 – with a word naming what is withheld.^[2]
• 1889 – the state of being deprived, in Etymonline.^[3]

Meanings

Noun

1. The act of depriving someone of something, or the state of being deprived; loss or lack: the deprivation of basic rights.^[8][10][2]
2. A lack of the resources, education or care needed for a decent life; poverty and want: areas of severe deprivation.^[10][2]
3. With a word naming what is lost or withheld: sleep deprivation, sensory deprivation.^[2]
4. Removal from an office or rank, especially of a member of the clergy from a benefice.^[8][7][2][9]

Word family

• self-deprivation
• sensory deprivation

Related words

• deprive
• private
• privation
• deprival

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g h Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
5. ^ a b Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ a b Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
7. ^ a b c Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ a b c Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
9. ^ a b Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
10. ^ a b c Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins