PRIVATION • FREE TRANSLATOR.ORG • Definition of Privation

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/praɪvˈeɪʃən/ Listen

noun

Privation n.

The act of depriving, or taking away; hence, the depriving of rank or office; degradation in rank; deprivation.

The state of being deprived or destitute of something, especially of something required or desired; destitution; need; as, to undergo severe privations.

The condition of being absent; absence; negation. "Evil will be known by consequence, as being only a privation, or absence, of good." "Privation mere of light and absent day."

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Etymology of 'Privation'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Privation" Quotes from Famous Books

... Privation or contrariety is very often denoted by the participle un prefixed to many adjectives, or in before words derived from the Latin; as pleasant, unpleasant; wise, unwise; profitable, unprofitable, patient, impatient. Thus unworthy, unhealthy, unfruitful, ...

— A Grammar of the English Tongue • Samuel Johnson

... old prejudices, was not so foolish as to desire a return of times like that. He had undergone privation himself in youth, for farmers' sons were but a little better off than plough-lads even in his early days; and he did not wish to make money by another man's suffering. Still he was always grieving about the wheat crop, and how it had fallen in estimation. It ...

— Round About a Great Estate • Richard Jefferies

... with any Englishman or woman who may read this book. For in the States of America regulations on this matter are much more rigid than with us. Cold meat is rarely seen, and to live a day without meat would be as great a privation as to pass ...

— Volume 1 • Anthony Trollope

... shows that the elements of our enjoyment are, difficult privation, desire and gratification. All of these are found in the breaking of abstinence. I have seen two of my grand uncles, very excellent men, too, almost faint with pleasure, when, on the day after Easter, they saw a ham, or a pate brought on the table. A degenerate race like the ...

— The Physiology of Taste • Brillat Savarin

... Miss Barrace had so good-humouredly described herself as assigning a corner of her salon. It was quite as if he knew his surreptitious step had been divined, and it was also as if he missed the chance to explain the purity of his motive; but this privation of relief should be precisely his small penance: it was not amiss for Strether that he should find himself to that degree uneasy. If he had been challenged or accused, rebuked for meddling or otherwise pulled ...

— The Ambassadors • Henry James

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