deprivation

Noun

deprivation (countable and uncountable, plural deprivations)

1. (countable) The act of depriving, dispossessing, or bereaving.
   • Without doubt, respondent [Darrell E.] Burch alleges a serious deprivation of liberty; yet equally clearly he alleges no violation of the Fourteenth Amendment. […] Taken together, the decisions indicate that for deprivations worked by such random and unauthorized departures from otherwise...1989, Sandra Day O'Connor, Texas v. New Mexico
   1. The act of deposing or divesting of some dignity; in particular the taking away from a clergyman of his benefice, or other spiritual promotion or dignity.
      • A Roman, elected in 896 by the Roman faction in a popular tumult, to succeed Formosus. He had twice incurred a sentence of deprivation of orders, as a subdeacon and as a priest.1913, “Pope Boniface VI”, in Catholic Encyclopedia
2. (uncountable) The state of being deprived; lack.
   • He was suffering from deprivation of sleep.
   • The deprivation of anything whose possession is consistent with the nature of the Being which wants it, is a defect. But ignorance is a deprivation of something which is consistent with the nature of intelligence: it is a deprivation of knowledge.1875, James Frederick Ferrier, Institutes of Metaphysic, section 2, proposition 1

   Synonyms:

   privation, loss, want, bereavement