depopulate
UK /diːˈpɒpjəleɪt/ · US /diˈpɑpjəleɪt/ verb, adjective
Forms depopulates depopulating depopulated
- verb (transitive) To reduce the population of a region by disease, war, forced relocation etc.
- verb (transitive, electronics) To remove the components from a circuit board.
- verb (intransitive) To become depopulated, to lose its population.
- adjective (as a participle) Depopulated (sense 1).
- adjective (as a participial adjective) Barren, devoid of inhabitants; utterly destroyed, devastated.
Synonyms
Etymology
First attested in 1531; borrowed from Latin dēpopulātus, perfect active participle of dēpopulor (see -ate (verb-forming suffix) and -ate (adjective-forming suffix)). Compare depeople, French dépeupler, Italian spopolare, Spanish despoblar, Portuguese despovoar and Romanian despopora; by surface analysis, de- + populate. Participial usage of the adjective up until Early Modern English.
Webster’s 1913
- verb To deprive of inhabitants, whether by death or by expulsion; to reduce greatly the populousness of; to dispeople; to unpeople.
- verb To become dispeopled. [R.]
Etymology [L. depopulatus, p. p. of depopulari to ravage; de- + populari to ravage, fr. populus people: cf. OF. depopuler, F. dépeupler. See People.]
Sources: Wiktionary · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “depopulate”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details