depredation
/ˌdɛpɹəˈdeɪʃən/
Word Rarity
Very rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 1.81 in modern English
15
Scrabble Score
11
Letters
4
Syllables
9
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
An act of consuming agricultural resources (crops, livestock), especially as plunder.
Countable; Uncountable
Example Sentences
- "An animal that produces only two to four young per year cannot suffer vast depredations on the adult population without drastic effects."
- "Depredation of cultivated crops by elephants is widespread in both Africa and Asia."
- "Union Gen. William Tecumseh Sherman had long known that his fragile supply and communication lines through Tennessee were in serious jeopardy because of depredations by Forrest's cavalry raids. (Battle of Brice's Crossroads)"
- "Despite losing its overall roof to the depredations of the Luftwaffe in the Second World War, the main building survives in all its Gothic glory."
Etymology
From Middle French déprédation, from Latin depraedatio.
Origin
Word Breakdown
- Root: déprédation, depraedatio
Regional Pronunciation
- British English: /ˌdɛpɹəˈdeɪʃən/