The act of depriving; a taking away.

A state of being deprived; loss; want; bereavement by loss of friends or of goods.

In law, the act of divesting a bishop or other clergyman of his spiritual promotion or dignity; the taking away of a preferment; deposition. This is of two kinds; a beneficio, and ab officio. The former is the deprivation of a minister of his living or preferment; the latter, of his order, and otherwise called deposition or degradation.