deforestation
the clearing or severe thinning of a forest or other wooded area, leaving few or no trees: Most of the world’s deforestation is happening in Brazil.
Origin of deforestation
1Words Nearby deforestation
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
How to use deforestation in a sentence
If governments do not take action to control greenhouse gases and deforestation, a vicious cycle will ensue where fires may lead to more fires.
What wildfires in Brazil, Siberia, and the US West have in common | Lili Pike | September 17, 2020 | VoxAmong other things, it ensures developing countries get paid if they can show that they’ve been preventing deforestation, a huge source of greenhouse gas emissions, and environmental degradation.
Want to fight climate change effectively? Here’s where to donate your money. | Sigal Samuel | September 17, 2020 | VoxThe die also controls where habitation destruction — either deforestation or pollution — spreads.
The board game Endangered shows just how hard conservation can be | Sarah Zielinski | August 21, 2020 | Science NewsSome people also use words like clearance, clearing or clearcutting for deforestation.
Ranches in the Amazon, for example, get their space from deforestation.
Washington excused its employment on the grounds that U.S. forces used it for purposes of “deforestation” and not against people.
Leslie H. Gelb: Obama Is Right on Chemical Warfare in Syria | Leslie H. Gelb | April 28, 2013 | THE DAILY BEASTBy June, deforestation in the rainforest region had dropped to a 23-year low, and is down 75 percent just since 2004.
Half of the pledged cuts will come from reduced deforestation.
Brazil is the fourth-largest greenhouse-gas emitter in the world, largely due to the deforestation of the Amazon.
My father always seemed to be traveling to some exotic place to raise awareness on deforestation issues and species protection.
I think the deforestation of the country is probably the cause of these terrible visitations.
The Life and Letters of Lafcadio Hearn, Volume 2 | Elizabeth BislandIf all the trees were bread and cheese there would be considerable deforestation in any part of England where I was living.
Alarms and Discursions | G. K. ChestertonPerhaps deforestation and subsequent increased aridity might account for the desertion of these once-cultivated lands.
Inca Land | Hiram BinghamNow our great forests are largely depleted, and scientific deforestation has become an absolute necessity.
deforestation may result in filling a river-channel and in stopping boats a thousand miles downstream.
The Spell of the Rockies | Enos A. Mills
Scientific definitions for deforestation
[ dē-fôr′ĭ-stā′shən ]
The cutting down and removal of all or most of the trees in a forested area. Deforestation can erode soils, contribute to desertification and the pollution of waterways, and decrease biodiversity through the destruction of habitat.
The American Heritage® Science Dictionary Copyright © 2011. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
Cultural definitions for deforestation
[ (dee-fawr-uh-stay-shuhn) ]
The process of destroying a forest and replacing it with something else. The term is used today to refer to the destruction of forests by human beings and their replacement by agricultural systems.
Notes for deforestation
The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
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