Meaning & use

deprived

adjective·Academic

Lacking basic necessities or opportunities that most people have, such as food, housing, or education.

See it in a sentence

Charities focused their efforts on the city's most economically deprived neighborhoods.

Sleep-deprived students often struggle to concentrate during early morning classes.

A note on using this word

Deprived commonly combines with another word, as in sleep-deprived, to show exactly what is lacking.

Words with a similar meaning

disadvantagedunderprivileged

Choose a synonym to suit the sentence. Meanings can overlap without being identical.

Words with an opposite meaning

privileged

Another way to use it

2. verb

To prevent someone from having or enjoying something.

The storm deprived the entire town of electricity for nearly a week.

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