Definitions

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun The quality of being bereft.

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

bereft +‎ -ness

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Examples

  • That trust never fully develops between womenfriends, or malefriends, or heterosexual lifemates or whatever they call themselves because there is always that threat of betrayal, of bereftness, when one eventually leaves for a more stable, socially-accepted mate.

    thinking about o’hana « Love | Peace | Ohana 2009

  • It seems noteworthy that the anguish and utter despair which are often a part of bereftness do not currently qualify for insurance benefits unless they are part of a disorder.

    Carol Smaldino: When Do We Get to Diagnose Our Own Society? Carol Smaldino 2012

  • It seems noteworthy that the anguish and utter despair which are often a part of bereftness do not currently qualify for insurance benefits unless they are part of a disorder.

    Carol Smaldino: When Do We Get to Diagnose Our Own Society? Carol Smaldino 2012

  • Great Regulars: This poem by Diana Hendry from her new collection, Late Love & Other Whodunits Peterloo/Mariscat, £7.95, perfectly captures that strange feeling of bereftness that descends upon us when a loved one goes away, even if just for a few days.

    Archive 2009-04-01 Rus Bowden 2009

  • There will always be a bereftness, a phantom limb that we reach to stroke like the pet log in

    Wired Top Stories bdagosti 2011

  • It seems noteworthy that the anguish and utter despair which are often a part of bereftness do not currently qualify for insurance benefits unless they are part of a disorder.

    The Full Feed from HuffingtonPost.com Carol Smaldino 2012

  • Why this overwhelming feeling of bereftness, of isolation, of abject loneliness during my darkest moments?

    I Am Woman, See Me Blog! 2009

  • Yes, that is a narrative, but its utter banality and bereftness points out just how creatively barren said work is.

    Alternative Film Guide 2009

  • Or this metaphorical gem, describing Hans 'bereftness: "My family, the spine of my days, had crumbled.

    Ariel Gonzalez: Why Obama Is Reading "Netherland" (And Why You Should Too) 2009

  • Like earlier Dardenne films, “Lorna’s Silence” is naturalistic, yet this one, beautifully shot in 35 mm film by Alain Marcoen, achieves a poetry of bereftness.

    ‘Funny People’: Sick Comic, Bleak Prognosis 2009

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