bereaved

English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /bɪˈɹiːvd/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

Adjective

bereaved (comparative more bereaved, superlative most bereaved)

1. Having suffered the death of a loved one.

   Synonyms: distraught, griefful, grief-struck, heartsore, mournful; see also Thesaurus:agonized

   bereaved relatives

   • 2004, David Mitchell, “Half-Lives: The First Luisa Rey Mystery”, in Cloud Atlas, →ISBN, page 121:

     With ironic deference, Brodie takes out the record from the gym bag. “Look, I was sorry to hear about your dad.”
     Luisa nods, feels grief rise and her defenses stiffen. “Yeah.”
     “I guess it was . . . a release, of sorts.”
     True, but only the bereaved can actually say so.

     The italics in the last line indicate an internal thought of Luisa's.

   • 2023 March 14, Caryn James, “John Wick: Chapter 4: 'Soars above most action films'”, in BBC‎^[1]:

     Perversely, we love John Wick himself. That lethal, bereaved assassin is a good bad guy for our times, the natural extension of Tony Soprano, Walter White and all the other heroic antiheroes the culture has embraced.

Derived terms

• bereavedness
• nonbereaved
• unbereaved

Verb

bereaved

1. simple past and past participle of bereave

   Synonym: bereft

Anagrams

• beavered