divest
C1Formal, Financial/Business, Academic
Definition
Meaning
To deprive or strip someone/something of possessions, rights, or attributes; to formally rid oneself of assets or investments.
To free oneself from a belief, feeling, or preoccupation; in a corporate context, to sell off assets, subsidiaries, or investments.
Linguistics
Semantic Notes
Primarily transitive; often used in passive constructions. In business, implies a deliberate, often strategic, sale or removal. Can carry a moral or ethical connotation when referring to ridding oneself of improper influence or prejudice.
Dialectal Variation
British vs American Usage
Differences
No significant spelling or grammatical differences. The term is used in both varieties.
Connotations
Slightly more common in American business/financial journalism. In UK, 'sell off' is more frequent in casual business talk.
Frequency
More frequent in AmE due to prominence of financial and activist shareholder contexts.
Vocabulary
Collocations
Grammar
Valency Patterns
SVO: The company divested its chemical division.SVOO: They divested the subsidiary to its managers.SVOA: He divested himself of all his worldly possessions.Passive: The group was divested of its assets.Vocabulary
Synonyms
Strong
Neutral
Weak
Vocabulary
Antonyms
Phrases
Idioms & Phrases
- “Divest oneself of (an idea/feeling)”
Usage
Context Usage
Business
Strategic sale of assets or subsidiaries; e.g., 'The conglomerate will divest its non-core businesses.'
Academic
Institutional critique; e.g., 'The study examines efforts to divest universities from fossil fuels.'
Everyday
Rare; used for formal or humorous emphasis on getting rid of something; e.g., 'I need to divest myself of these old magazines.'
Technical
Legal or financial processes of asset disposal; corporate restructuring.
Examples
By Part of Speech
verb
British English
- The council was ordered to divest itself of the controversial holdings.
- She sought to divest from fossil fuel companies.
American English
- The university voted to divest its endowment from fossil fuels.
- The CEO decided to divest the underperforming division.
adverb
British English
- (No standard adverb derived from 'divest')
American English
- (No standard adverb derived from 'divest')
adjective
British English
- (Not standard; 'divested' is participial adjective) The divested assets were sold at auction.
American English
- (Not standard; 'divested' is participial adjective) The divested unit became an independent company.
Examples
By CEFR Level
- The king was divested of his power.
- They decided to divest the old factory.
- The new law required the trust to divest its foreign properties.
- Investors pressured the fund to divest from controversial industries.
- In a strategic move to reduce debt, the corporation divested itself of several ancillary businesses.
- The activist argued that to be truly objective, one must divest oneself of all preconceptions.
Learning
Memory Aids
Mnemonic
Think of a VEST you take OFF (di-vest) to remove it. You remove assets or attributes.
Conceptual Metaphor
POSSESSIONS ARE CLOTHING (to divest is to strip off clothing); OWNERSHIP IS A BURDEN (to divest is to lighten a load).
Watch out
Common Pitfalls
Translation Traps (for Russian speakers)
- Not a direct equivalent to 'раздеться' (to undress) in physical sense.
- In business, not simply 'продать' (to sell) but a strategic, often large-scale, disposal.
- Can be confused with 'инвестировать' (to invest) due to phonetic similarity, but means the opposite.
Common Mistakes
- Using 'divest' without an object or required preposition (e.g., 'He divested' is incomplete).
- Confusing 'divest from' (financial/moral disengagement) with 'divest of' (ridding oneself of something).
Practice
Quiz
Which of the following best captures the meaning of 'divest' in a corporate context?
FAQ
Frequently Asked Questions
In financial contexts, yes, it often means to withdraw or sell investments. More broadly, it means to rid oneself of something, not just financial stakes.
'Divest from' is common with financial/moral disengagement (divest from fossil fuels). 'Divest of' is more general, meaning to strip away (divest oneself of authority).
Historically yes, but this is now archaic or highly literary. In modern English, 'undress' or 'strip' is used for clothing.
Yes, 'divestiture' (or 'divestment') is the noun, specifically referring to the action or process of divesting, especially in business/legal contexts.