depredation
[dep-ri-dey-shuh n]
- the act of preying upon or plundering; robbery; ravage.
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Origin of depredation
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for depredations
Contemporary Examples
The depredations suffered by Southern blacks at the hands of white authorities had been known, at an abstract level, for decades.
Is it the depredations of unfettered capitalism that make people the servants of the market rather than the other way around?
Only grassroots opposition stopped, or at least limited, their depredations.
Iran has also succumbed over the course of a cruel century, in large part because of the depredations of the Pahlavi dynasty.
Historical Examples
Down almost to our own day the depredations of wolves were frightful.
The Roof of FranceMatilda Betham-Edwards
Meantime their depredations had been stopped, and what was the consequence?
End of the TetherJoseph Conrad
I shall, from memory, cite such few of their depredations as I recollect.
The Expedition to Borneo of H.M.S. DidoHenry Keppel
This country was a common field for the depredations of the Norse rovers.
Historical Tales, Vol. 9 (of 15)Charles Morris
He had suffered a great deal from the depredations of fruit thieves.
In School and OutOliver Optic
depredation
- the act or an instance of plundering; robbery; pillage
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Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
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Word Origin and History for depredations
depredation
n.
late 15c., from Middle French déprédation, from Late Latin depraedationem (nominative depraedatio) "a plundering," from past participle stem of Latin depraedari "to pillage," from de- "thoroughly" (see de-) + praedari "to plunder," literally "to make prey of," from praeda "prey" (see prey).
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper