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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
Chloe Albanesius, PC Magazine, 30 May 2025
While some states, including Mississippi, have backed calls to divest public pensions from China, the southern state’s most recent asset disclosures cast some doubt over its commitment to doing so.
—Robert Schmad, The Washington Examiner, 30 May 2025
Moskowitz is among the current cosponsors of bipartisan legislation that would require members of Congress, their spouses and dependent children to divest themselves of individual stock holdings or move their investments into a qualified blind trust while in office.
—Anthony Man, Sun Sentinel, 27 May 2025
The Senate counterpart bill notes that impacted individuals would have to sell and divest their property within two years.
—Mandy Taheri, MSNBC Newsweek, 24 May 2025
See All Example Sentences for divest
Cite this Entry
“Divest.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/divest. Accessed 3 Jun. 2025.
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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