Two types of grief

September 10th, 2009 at 07:00am Barry Wood

There is a difference between being “bereaved” and being “bereft.” Both are listed as the past tense and past participle of the verb “bereave,” which is seldom used anymore in any other form.

It’s rooted in the Old English “bereafian,” meaning “to deprive, rob,” and this sense of “dispossess” is still the first definition of “bereave.” This is the case that calls for “bereft,” as in, “The war has left them bereft of hope,”

The second definition of “bereave” is “to leave in a sad or lonely state, as by loss or death.” This is the one we use for people who are in mourning — they are “the bereaved.”

As Bryan A. Garner points out in “Garner’s Modern American Usage,” “bereaved” applies to losses of people, and “bereft” applies to losses of “immaterial possessions or qualities.”

Either way, it’s a very sad situation.

Entry Filed under: definitions, word origins