Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- v. To strip, as of clothes.
- v. To deprive, as of rights or property; dispossess.
- v. To free of; rid: "Most secretive of men, let him at last divest himself of secrets, both his and ours” ( Brendan Gill).
- v. To sell off or otherwise dispose of (a subsidiary company or an investment).
- v. Law To devest.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- To strip of clothes, arms, or equipage; hence, to strip of anything that surrounds or attends; despoil: opposed to invest: as, to divest one of his reputation.
- To strip by some definite or legal process; deprive: as, to divest a person of his rights or privileges; to divest one of title or property.
- To strip off; throw off.
Wiktionary
- v. transitive, archaic To undress, disrobe.
- v. transitive To strip, deprive, or dispossess (someone) of something (such as a right, passion, privilege, or prejudice).
- v. transitive To sell off or be rid of through sale, especially of a subsidiary
GNU Webster's 1913
- v. To unclothe; to strip, as of clothes, arms, or equipage; -- opposed to
invest . - v. Fig.: To strip; to deprive; to dispossess
- v. (Law) See Devest.
WordNet 3.0
- v. remove (someone's or one's own) clothes
- v. reduce or dispose of; cease to hold (an investment)
- v. deprive of status or authority
- v. take away possessions from someone
Etymologies
- Alteration of devest, after Latin divestire. (Wiktionary)
- Alteration (influenced by Medieval Latin dīvestīre, to undress) of devest. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“SEOUL — Korea Exchange Bank said Friday Chairman Richard Wacker will step down from his post due to personal reasons amid efforts by majority stakeholder Lone Star Funds to divest from the bank.”
The Wall Street Journal: KEB Chairman Resigning Amid Potential Change in Owner
“The resolution, which will be voted on at a later date, requests that the city government and employee pension fund "divest" from all Arizona state and municipal bonds and would ban city workers from traveling to that state on official business.”
The Washington Post: D.C. Council approves tough school lunch, exercise standards
“His choice of "divest" leaves open the possibility that male-male friendships are inherently sensual; after all, one cannot divest what one does not already have.”
The Uses and Abuses of Historicism: Halperin and Shelley on the Otherness of Ancient Greek Sexuality
“Arnold Schwarzenegger, Sen. Barack Obama and Sen. Sam Brownback, among others at the state and local level, have identified a powerful tool — a grass-roots and bipartisan campaign to "divest" from Iran, just as the international community divested from South Africa's apartheid regime in the 1970s and '80s.”
“While the company spelled out plans "to transfer fully the U.S. operation of P&O Operations North America to a United States entity," it failed to mention the words "divest" or "sell.”
“rule that statutes which in general terms divest preexisting rights or privileges will not be applied to the sovereign without express words to that effect.”
“And McAlister just about told me himself that they were trying to kind of divest themselves of this company-town image and trying to cut their ties with the community.”
“Techicolor (formerly Thomson) has been trying to "divest" itself of its Grass Valley operations because it is "not within Technicolor's strategic refocusing.”
“The final language of the resolution still must be fine-tuned, but a draft circulated Tuesday by Hispanic activists calls on both the city government and the employee pension fund to "divest" from "any companies that originate out of Arizona or that do business with Arizona.”
“If it wins, it will sell or 'divest' the spectrum to an actual operator after keeping it with itself till the LTE technology becomes ready, around 2-3 years from now.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘divest’.
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GRE 2014
abate, abdicate, abase, aberrant, abeyance, abhor, abjure, abortive, abound, abrasive, abreast, abridge and 1577 more...
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GRE Barrons Wordlist
A complete Barron's Wordlist for GRE preparation. Your online flashcard replacement.
abase, abash, abate, abbreviate, abdicate, aberrant, aberration, abet, abeyance, abhor, abject, abjure and 4087 more...
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GRE Barron's 800
abate, abdicate, aberrant, abeyance, abject, abjure, abscission, abscond, abstemious, abstinence, abysmal, accretion and 787 more...
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Interesting words
A list of words that are odd or words that I have looked up.
concupiscence, brize, scree, scoria, forestaff, spanaemia, valetudinarianism, distasture, pyrethrum, laudanum, gentian, bicameral and 11184 more...
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2nd part
prelude, ample, escalate, prototype, accession, acquisition, archives, zealot, indict, verdict, intimidating, timid and 454 more...
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Naked
Words relating to getting naked, being naked, the commonly naked, nakedness (partial or complete), and similar.
denude, strip, stripper, harlot, Cyprian, fancy woman, lady of pleasure, hooker, divest, unfrock, unclothe, disrobe and 115 more...
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Undo
A list of terms that denote separating one thing from another, or deconstructing a thing into its parts or to a former state. E.g., untie, divorce, unscramble.
untie, divorce, unscramble, disunite, disjoin, undo, separate, disassemble, uncouple, unhitch, disassociate, disaffiliate and 185 more...
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GRE
predilection, explicit, appeal, supplication, appealing, enchanting, ovation, pertinent, apropos, opportunely, applicable, germane and 381 more...
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gre
divest, elixir, onerous, disabuse, discern, sordid, erudition, broach, beguile, apologia, elusive, capacious and 7 more...
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big book gre
abase, abbess, abbey, abbot, abdicate, abdomen, abdominal, abduction, abed, aberration, abet, abeyance and 6689 more...
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dis-
away; apart; deprive of; cause to be the opposite of; fail
disapprove, dismiss, disbar, disable, disallow, dishonest, disunion, divest, differ, antidisestablishm..., disgust, disavow
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Verba Dilecta
delectable, notate, pauciloquy, paucity, pauciloquent, paucify, interscapilium, uropygium, inferna, nota, equipollent, prepollent and 677 more...
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My preparation
for GRE ofcourse
morbid, disparate, incipient, exonerate, engross, ebullient, predilection, propensity, allure, qualms, chastise, perpetuate and 111 more...
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The Sog Collection
My big word list.
chaos, flaccid, empirical, flotsam, cacophony, grumble, assuage, awe, romance, mortality, coalesce, fortuitous and 3282 more...
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What Do You Mean $
ahh these hurt.....
hermit, prone, maxim, guise, solvenly, lurid, lax, amiable, irate, cloister, mediate, nettle and 100 more...
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GRE
abate, abdicate, aberrant, abhor, abjure, abrasive, abridge, abstain, acme, activism, adhere, admonish and 195 more...
Tweets
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