Meaning & use
bereaved
Last updated
Meanings
adjectivecomparableformal
Describing someone whose close family member or friend has recently died.
Grammar: Usually before a noun or after a linking verb: the bereaved family, she was bereaved.
Patterns
- be bereaved of someone
- a bereaved parent
The bereaved family asked for privacy after the funeral.
She was bereaved at twenty-two when her mother died.
The charity offers counseling to bereaved parents.
nounpluralformal
People who have lost someone close to them through death, considered as a group.
Grammar: Used with the and a plural verb: the bereaved are grieving, not a bereaved.
Patterns
- the bereaved
The minister spoke gently to the bereaved after the service.
The company gives paid leave to the recently bereaved.
Cards poured in from neighbors, comforting the bereaved.
Common combinations
- bereaved family
- The bereaved family received flowers from the whole town.
- bereaved parent
- A bereaved parent often needs support for years.
- recently bereaved
- He was recently bereaved and had little energy for work.
- comfort the bereaved
- Volunteers visit to comfort the bereaved.
- bereaved of
- She was bereaved of her husband after forty years of marriage.
Synonyms and how they differ
- grieving
- Grieving describes the emotion someone is feeling now, while bereaved states the fact that a person has died.
- widowed
- Widowed is far narrower, since it applies only to someone whose spouse has died.
- mourning
- Mourning stresses the outward expression of loss, such as ritual and clothing, rather than the condition itself.
- orphaned
- Orphaned applies only to a child who has lost parents, whereas bereaved can describe any close loss.
Word family
- bereavement noun
- the state or period of losing someone through death
- bereave verb
- to take a loved one away by death
- bereft adjective
- deprived of something, often hope or comfort
- bereavement leave noun
- time off work after a death
Commonly confused: bereaved or bereft? bereaved or berated?
bereaved vs bereft
Bereft means lacking something and is not limited to death; bereaved means someone close has died.
bereaved vs berated
Berated means scolded angrily and only looks similar.
Practice
The company allows three days of paid leave for employees who are ___.
Choose one answer.
Bereaved means having lost a close person through death, which is the usual reason for paid leave. Bereft needs an object, berated means scolded, and bewildered means confused.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “bereaved”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.