Deprivation

How to spell deprivation

11 letters · 4 syllables

How to pronounce deprivation

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does deprivation mean?

1. nounThe damaging lack of something essential, such as food, sleep, or comfort.

Deprivation in a sentence

• Chronic sleep deprivation left her unable to concentrate at work.

• The report linked rising crime to poverty and social deprivation.

Where does deprivation come from?

Language of origin: Latin

The word traces back to the Latin verb privare, which meant 'to rob, strip, or deprive someone of something', built on privus, meaning 'one's own' or 'single'. Medieval Latin added the intensifying prefix de- to form deprivare, 'to take completely away', and from this came the noun deprivatio for the act of dispossessing. English absorbed it through Old French and Medieval Latin in the late 1400s, at first often in a church context, where a cleric could be 'deprived' of his office or living. Over time the everyday meaning broadened to cover the lack of any basic necessity, such as food, sleep, or comfort. The same privare root quietly survives in the familiar words 'private' and 'privilege', a reminder that the spelling keeps the single 'p' and the 'priv' core intact.

How the word is built

• de- (off, away)
• priv (from Latin privare: to rob, strip)
• -ation (noun-forming suffix)