denude

American  

[dih-nood, -nyood] / dɪˈnud, -ˈnjud /

verb (used with object)

• denudes,
  present (3rd person singular)
• denuded,
  past participle,  past
• denuding
  present participle

1. to make naked or bare; strip.

   The storm completely denuded the trees.

2. Geology. to subject to denudation.

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denude British  

/ dɪˈnjuːd, ˌdiː- /

verb

1. to divest of covering; make bare; uncover; strip

2. to expose (rock) by the erosion of the layers above

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• denudation
  noun
• denuder
  noun
• denuded
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Participles

• denuding
  present
• denuded
  past

Conjugated Forms

Present

• denude
  simple
• denudes
  simple
• have denuded
  perfect
• has denuded
  perfect
• am denuding
  progressive
• are denuding
  progressive
• is denuding
  progressive
• have been denuding
  perfect progressive
• has been denuding
  perfect progressive

Past

• denuded
  simple
• had denuded
  perfect
• was denuding
  progressive
• were denuding
  progressive
• had been denuding
  perfect progressive

Future

• will denude
  simple
• will have denuded
  perfect
• will be denuding
  progressive
• will have been denuding
  perfect progressive

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Etymology

Origin of denude

First recorded in 1505–15; from Latin dēnūdāre, equivalent to dē- de- + nūdāre “to lay bare”; see nude

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Explanation

When you denude something, you expose it by taking away what covers or protects it. Loggers who clearcut forests denude them of all trees. There are both natural and human-related ways to denude a piece of land or an area of the earth's surface. The erosion of sea water on the coast can denude beaches and coastlines, eroding and wearing them away. Pesticides used on large farms can denude entire regions of honey bees. The word comes from a Latin root, denudare, "to lay bare, strip, or expose," from de-, "away," and nudare, "to strip."

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

denude denudes denuded denuding

“Our study shows that burros can denude wetlands but only when mountain lions are absent,” Dr. Lundgren said.

From New York Times ● Aug. 15, 2022

They’re also here to eat huge swaths of cropland, denude trees and other plant life, and generally wreak havoc on the West and its agriculture.

From Slate ● Jul. 12, 2021

They have a voracious appetite that can denude entire forests of leaves, said University of Illinois entomologist May Berenbaum, a past society president.

From Seattle Times ● Jul. 9, 2021

They're also being told not to denude grocery shelves by hoarding food and other essentials.

From Salon ● Mar. 21, 2020

Salt, even in quantities large enough to denude the soil of all vegetation, is never permanently injurious.

From The Elements of Agriculture A Book for Young Farmers, with Questions Prepared for the Use of Schools by George E. (George Edwin) Waring

An ideological move away from globalization by some countries and the encouragement of reshoring that denudes comparative advantage benefits may also lift prices.

From MarketWatch ● Dec. 22, 2025

“This denial denudes them of their right to worship,” Chief Justice Dipak Misra, who has since retired, wrote in his opinion.

From New York Times ● Oct. 18, 2018

So too does pianist Kristof Van Grysperre, whose crisp, unsentimental playing startlingly denudes Poulenc's orchestral score.

From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 10, 2016

The overqualified actors often give quirky life to a script that denudes their characters of nuance.

From Time ● Oct. 7, 2014

Heavy rains and the melting of the upper snow banks by warm Chinook winds combine to produce a surface run-off that denudes the steeper declivities down to the underlying bedrock.

From The Forests of Mount Rainier National Park by Grenville F. Allen

At Galeries Lafayette on Tuesday, as employees packed away denuded mannequins, admissions officer Li said she thought the store had been too reliant on "the traditional... business model that has existed for decades in France".

From Barron's ● May 27, 2026

Food, initially plentiful after the Germans denuded the farms of occupied Europe, became scarcer and worse.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 13, 2026

It looked desolate and black — destroyed businesses, block after block of homes burned to the ground, the mountains behind denuded and black as coal.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 8, 2026

So, in 1934, as Depression-era dust storms darkened the skies over the Great Plains, worsened by overgrazing that denuded grasslands, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed the Taylor Grazing Act, named for the lawmaker.

From Salon ● Dec. 4, 2025

He aimed the denuded prow of the wagon toward the Algiers ferry ramp, where the longshoremen gathered in the afternoons.

From "A Confederacy of Dunces" by John Kennedy Toole

She is among those who think that this all nods to an "odd relationship" with trees – one of "simultaneously adoring and denuding woodlands".

From BBC ● Jul. 14, 2025

The fine for allegedly denuding a row of street trees that shaded striking Hollywood writers is small — $250 — but notable enough for the Los Angeles chief auditor.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 22, 2023

During the panel at Columbia Law, Roderick Ferguson, Professor of Women's, Gender, and Sexuality Studies and American Studies at Yale University warned against the "denuding of African American studies of the things that degrade."

From Salon ● Mar. 31, 2023

“Our mental health, our immunity, our ability to stay well is dependent on these ecologies inside of us. And it’s not about taking more pills, it’s about stopping the stress that’s denuding our microbiota.”

From Seattle Times ● Aug. 23, 2021

The arm muscles would begin to hurt, but it was the personal denuding he experienced under the many-eyed gaze of the class that was the prime cause of his discomfiture and embarrassment.

From "The Great Santini" by Pat Conroy

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