depopulate

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

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

SEE MORE 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.

Nearby words

depollute, depolymerase, depolymerize, depone, deponent, depopulate, deport, deportation, deportee, deportment, deposal

Origin of depopulate

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

Related forms

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

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for depopulate

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
It has converted the valley into a desert, and will depopulate it.
Calavar|Robert Montgomery Bird
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

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
All other measures will prove abortive, and you will depopulate the country.
Egmont|Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe
So strong was now the tide of emigration, that it threatened to depopulate some of the fairest provinces of the country.
History of the Reign of Philip the Second, King of Spain.|William H. Prescott

British Dictionary definitions for depopulate

depopulate

/ (dɪˈpɒpjʊˌleɪt) /

verb

to be or cause to be reduced in population

Derived Forms

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

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

adjective

RELATED WORDS

Nearby words

Origin of depopulate

Related forms

Examples from the Web for depopulate

British Dictionary definitions for depopulate

depopulate

verb

Derived Forms