deforest

American  

[dee-fawr-ist, -for-] / diˈfɔr ɪst, -ˈfɒr- /

verb (used with object)

1. to divest or clear of forests or trees.

   Poor planning deforested the area in ten years.

---

deforest British  

/ diːˈfɒrɪst /

verb

1. Also: disforest.  (tr) to clear of trees

---

DeForest Scientific  

/ dĭ-fôr′ĭst /

1. American electrical engineer and inventor who is known as "the father of radio." He patented more than 300 inventions, including the triode electron tube, which made it possible to amplify and detect radio waves.

---

Other Word Forms

• deforestation noun
• deforester noun

Etymology

Origin of deforest

First recorded in 1530–40; de- + forest

Example Sentences

Balboni and Olken write: "The conservationist lobby must pay the government in perpetuity … while the deforestation-oriented lobby need pay only once to deforest in the present."

From Science Daily • Sep. 20, 2023

"Landowners circling in planes, soya farmers wanting to buy the land to deforest it."

From BBC • Aug. 7, 2023

They’ll sell a piece of their own rubber grove and deforest in order to raise cattle.

From Seattle Times • Dec. 23, 2022

For example, cutting down large swaths of forests just for energy production is not a sustainable option because our energy demands are so great that we would quickly deforest the world, destroying critical habitat.

From Textbooks • Sep. 6, 2018

If we deforest these steep slopes, water is going to injure them much more than it would the gentler slopes of the lower lands, if they had been deforested.

From Conservation Reader by Fairbanks, Harold W. (Harold Wellman)