What does devested mean?
"Devested" is the past tense and past participle of "devest," a largely legal term meaning to deprive someone of a right, title, possession, or authority. When an officeholder is removed, a trust terminates, or an heir's claim is extinguished by sale or statute, that person is said to be "devested" of the interest they once held. The word typically appears in the fixed phrase "devested of," as in "devested of power" or "devested of title," and its tone is formal, technical, and somewhat archaic — you will encounter it mainly in court opinions, conveyancing documents, and historical prose rather than everyday conversation. Outside such contexts, most writers reach instead for "divested," which covers both voluntary acts like selling off assets and involuntary losses. Knowing "devested" is useful chiefly for reading legal and historical texts precisely: where "divesting" suggests letting go, "being devested" suggests having something taken away by force of law.
verb (past tense and past participle of "devest")Deprived of a right, title, possession, or authority, especially by operation of law or by formal act; stripped of something previously held. In older usage, also simply divested or freed of clothing or burden.
- Deprived of a right, title, interest, or authority by legal action or operation of law.
- Stripped or freed of something formerly worn or carried (archaic).
"The court ruled that the trustee had been devested of all authority over the estate."
"Upon his conviction, he was devested of all honors and privileges conferred by the crown."
"The heir's interest was devested the moment the property was sold to satisfy the debt."
While companies proudly announce they've 'divested' from fossil fuels, their lawyers whisper the opposite fate — being 'devested' means the law took it away from you.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Etymology of devested
"Devested" derives from "devest," formed in Middle French and Late Latin from Latin "de-" (removal) plus "vestire" (to clothe), the same root behind "vest," "investment," and "investiture." The underlying image is one of stripping away a garment — figuratively, removing the legal "vestments" of ownership or office under which a right was clothed. It entered English legal usage in the sixteenth century and survives today almost exclusively as a term of art in property and trust law.
Related word forms
How devested is actually used
"Devested" is rare outside legal writing and historical texts, where it appears in contexts concerning estates, trusts, titles, and offices. In everyday English, "divested" is almost always preferred. The passive construction "devested of" is the standard pattern.
Easily confused with devested
"Divested" is the far more common word for giving up or selling off assets or shedding something, while "devested" is chiefly a rarer legal term meaning deprived of a right or title by law.