depredation
Americannoun
noun
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of depredation
1475–85; < Late Latin dēpraedātiōn- (stem of dēpraedātiō ) a plundering, equivalent to dēpraedāt ( us ) ( see depredate) + -iōn- -ion
Explanation
The horrors of war include depredation — the plundering and ransacking of the defeated and their homes, the terrible, unrestrained preying on the conquered. The word depredation entails all of the pain humans inflict upon each other. The Latin language makes the noun praeda "prey" into the verb praedārī, which then means "to plunder." As if that wasn't enough — they added the prefix de-, "thoroughly," to create a word that says it all. In 15th-century French, the word became depredation, but the meaning was far from refined, describing a wholesale pillaging of those who became the "prey" and continuing the history of man’s inhumanity to man.
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
It is in the interest of the free world, including the U.S., that India become better able to defend itself against Chinese depredation.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 25, 2026
An emerging bright spot for Latin America could be Argentina, whose stocks are excluded from most indexes after years of economic depredation.
From Barron's ● Feb. 12, 2026
Between January and March of this year, 26 instances of livestock depredation were being investigated with wolves confirmed as the culprit in 16 of them, according to state data.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 31, 2025
Kandula faces a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison after pleading guilty to a felony charge of depredation of government property.
From Seattle Times ● May 13, 2024
If time and opportunity offer there is hardly any limit to the depredation which it allows.
From The Confessions of a Poacher by Anonymous
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Get a wordDefinitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
