depopulate
verb (used with object)
to remove or reduce the population of, as by destruction or expulsion.
was depopulating
-
past progressiveof depopulate.past progressive
Used to describe an ongoing action or continuous state that was happening at a specific time in the past.
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.
But now the small farms were already being turned into large, the sheep were dispossessing the plough, and the principle of "led" farms was depopulating the countryside.
From Bog-Myrtle and Peat Tales Chiefly of Galloway Gathered from the Years 1889 to 1895 by S. R. (Samuel Rutherford) Crockett
The octogenarians in Elizabeth’s later days complained that the country was depopulating fast; and the chimneys of the great mansions which had smoked the year round, now scarcely announced “a merry Christmas.”
From Amenities of Literature Consisting of Sketches and Characters of English Literature by Isaac Disraeli
At Vaisali, a pest like modern cholera was depopulating the kingdom, due to an accumulation of festering corpses.
The dreadful cholera was depopulating Quebec and Montreal when our ship cast anchor off Grosse Isle, on the 30th of August 1832, and we were boarded a few minutes after by the health-officers.
From Roughing It in the Bush by Susanna Moodie
