What does "privation" mean?

Privation: The state of being deprived or destitute of something, especially of something required or desired; destitution; need; as, to undergo severe privations.

Additional senses

  1. 2.The condition of being absent; absence; negation. Evil will be known by consequence, as being only a privation, or absence, of good. South. Privation mere of light and absent day. Milton.

Sources