depopulate

[ verb dee-pop-yuh-leyt; adjective dee-pop-yuh-lit, -leyt ]

/ verb diˈpɒp yəˌleɪt; adjective diˈpɒp yə lɪt, -ˌleɪt /

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See synonyms for depopulate on Thesaurus.com

verb (used with object), de·pop·u·lat·ed, de·pop·u·lat·ing.

to remove or reduce the population of, as by destruction or expulsion.

adjective

Archaic. depopulated.

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Origin of depopulate

1525–35; <Latin dēpopulātus devastated (past participle of dēpopulārī), equivalent to dē-de- + populātus;see populate

OTHER WORDS FROM depopulate

de·pop·u·la·tion, nounde·pop·u·la·tive, adjectivede·pop·u·la·tor, noun

Words nearby depopulate

depollute, depolymerize, depone, deponent, Depo-Provera, depopulate, deport, deportation, deportee, deportment, deposal

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use depopulate in a sentence

For full access to a genuine voice, Hemingway argues that a writer must depopulate his or her world, physically or metaphysically.
Can We Live Together, Roland Barthes?|Austen Rosenfeld|December 19, 2012|DAILY BEAST
Indeed, in the early 1770s, the movement of people westward was so large that it threatened to depopulate Britain.
“The Barbarous Years”: What 17th-Century America Really Looked Like|R.B. Bernstein|November 22, 2012|DAILY BEAST
For the benefit of trade and religion, Los Rios thinks it advisable to depopulate Macao and suppress it.
The Philippine Islands, 1493-1898|Emma Helen Blair
A landlord who was determined to depopulate could hardly in the long run be prevented from succeeding in his object.
The Agrarian Problem in the Sixteenth Century|Richard Henry Tawney

To compel the Bishops to reside within their dioceses would depopulate the Court of Rome, and make it very much poorer.
A History of the Reformation (Vol. 2 of 2)|Thomas M. Lindsay
The principle of entailing landed estates tends to impoverish the people, drive them to emigration, and so depopulate the country.
The Cathedral Towns and Intervening Places of England, Ireland and Scotland:|Thomas W. Silloway
To confine man absolutely either to animal or vegetable food would be to depopulate a large part of the earth.
Genghis Khan, Makers of History Series|Jacob Abbott

British Dictionary definitions for depopulate

depopulate

/ (dɪˈpɒpjʊˌleɪt) /

verb

to be or cause to be reduced in population

Derived forms of depopulate

depopulation, noun

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

depopulate

Origin of depopulate

OTHER WORDS FROM depopulate

Words nearby depopulate

Words related to depopulate

How to use depopulate in a sentence

British Dictionary definitions for depopulate

Derived forms of depopulate