Trend Watch

North Korean General: Trump 'Bereft' of Reason

"Lacking something needed, wanted, or expected"

Bereft rose to among our top lookups on the evening of August 9th, 2017, after the word was found in multiple news reports quoting a member of the North Korean military

A statement released Wednesday by the North Korean army says President Trump is "a guy bereft of reason." "Sound dialogue is not possible with such a guy bereft of reason and only absolute force can work on him," reads the statement by General Kim Rak Gyom. It was released on state-run media.
—CBS News (CBS.com), 9 Aug. 2017

KCNA published a wire criticizing Trump for having "let out a load of nonsense about 'fire and fury,' failing to grasp the on-going grave situation. This is extremely getting on the nerves of the infuriated Hwasong artillerymen of the KPA [Korean People's Army]." The article goes on to state that "sound dialogue is not possible with such a guy bereft of reason and only absolute force can work on him.”
—CNN (cnn.com) 9 Aug. 2017

Bereft began as the past participle of the verb bereave, and in the 16th century underwent a process known as functional shift, which is when a word takes on the role of a different part of speech (in this case that of adjective).

When bereft is followed by a preposition, it is of.