denude

[dih-nood, -nyood]

verb (used with object)

denuded, denuding 

1. to make naked or bare; strip.

   The storm completely denuded the trees.

2. Geology.,  to subject to denudation.

denude

/ ˌdiː-, dɪˈnjuːd, ˌdɛnjʊˈdeɪʃən /

verb

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

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

Other Word Forms

• denuded adjective
• denuder noun
• denudation noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of denude¹

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

Word History and Origins

Origin of denude¹

C16: from Latin dēnūdāre; see _nude

Example Sentences

Surrounding hillsides, significantly denuded of plant life, are dotted with scores of freshly cut stumps.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

Moments later, it emerged as a landscape denuded of all color save brown and gray and the occasional red-rimmed maw of a destroyed brick rooftop.

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The stream banks were denuded of vegetation and the riffle crests obliterated as the choked stream tried to reach the sea.

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

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Later, she drives through a part of the forest that burned the year before to see “mile upon mile of carbonized trees and denuded earth, a now-familiar scene of extinguished life.”

Read more on Los Angeles Times