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The vest in divest is a close relation of the kind found in closets—its origin is Latin vestis meaning “clothing, garment.” (Vest has the same source and first appeared in English as a verb in the 15th century meaning “to put on garments or vestments.”) Divest today mostly appears in legal and business contexts about a formal removal or loss of something of value; assets that are divested are sold or given away; someone divested of a right officially loses that right. The word’s first late 16th century use, however, was more intimately related to its roots: divest was then used to mean “to undress or strip especially of clothing, ornament, or equipment.” But broader application of divest soon followed. In Shakespeare’s Henry V, the French King Charles is told via messenger that England’s King Henry “wills you, in the name of God Almighty, / That you divest yourself, and lay apart / ... the crown / And all wide-stretched honours that pertain ...”
Examples of divest in a Sentence
Michael Hiltzik, Los Angeles Times, 9 Oct. 2024
Pro-Palestinian protesters at the school have sought for the school to divest its endowment from companies supporting Israel, and Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel charged multiple with impeding officers or trespassing after a related encampment was cleared.
—Darcie Moran, Detroit Free Press, 8 Oct. 2024
The President signed a national security bill in April requiring that ByteDance divest TikTok or face removal on U.S. app stores.
—Jill Goldsmith, Deadline, 8 Oct. 2024
Entrepreneurs looking to take government jobs usually divest their shares and holdings to avoid conflicts of interest, but Musk is unlikely to be able to divest his massive stakes in companies like Tesla, SpaceX and X without causing major disruption.
—Mary Whitfill Roeloffs, Forbes, 4 Oct. 2024
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These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'divest.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
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Cite this Entry
“Divest.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/divest. Accessed 22 Oct. 2024.
Copy CitationKids Definition
divest
verb
Legal Definition
divest
transitive verb
Anglo-French devestir, literally, to undress, from Old French desvestir, from de(s)-, prefix marking reversal + vestir to dress, from Latin vestire
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