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Depopulate for Dummies

verb

pronunciation: di'pɑpjə,leɪt

What does Depopulate really mean?

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Okay, so "depopulate" is kind of like when you have a group of people or animals in a certain area, and then that group gets smaller because some of them leave or die. It's like when a town or a village isn't as crowded as it used to be because some of the people have moved away or maybe there's been a disease or something that's caused a lot of them to pass away. It's basically the opposite of "populate," which means to fill a place with a lot of people.

So, when we say a place is being depopulated, it means that there are fewer and fewer people or animals living there. It's like a bird's nest that used to be full of little baby birds, but then one by one they all fly away until the nest is empty. Or it's like a classroom that started off with a lot of students, but then some of them move to a different school or maybe they have to stay home because they're sick. And so, the classroom ends up with fewer students than it started with.

Depopulate can also mean to decrease the population of a certain area on purpose. Like if a government or a group of people decide that there are too many animals in a certain forest, they might try to depopulate that area by moving some of the animals to a different place or maybe even by hunting some of them. It's kind of like when you have a jar of marbles and you decide that there are too many marbles in it, so you take some out to make the jar less full.

So, when we talk about depopulating, we're basically talking about making a group of living things smaller, either because it's happening naturally or because someone is doing it on purpose. It's like when you have a bag of candy and you start out with a lot of pieces, but then you keep eating them until there are only a few left. Does that make sense?

Revised and Fact checked by William Rodriguez on 2023-11-27 06:33:57

Depopulate In a sentece

Learn how to use Depopulate inside a sentece

  • The pandemic caused many people to depopulate urban areas and move to the countryside for safety.
  • The construction of a new highway will depopulate the forest, causing some animals to lose their natural habitat.
  • The extinction of a species can depopulate an entire ecosystem, disrupting the balance of nature.
  • The government's policy of forced migration could depopulate rural villages and concentrate people in overcrowded cities.
  • Natural disasters such as floods or earthquakes can depopulate entire towns, leaving them abandoned.

Depopulate Synonyms

Words that can be interchanged for the original word in the same context.

Depopulate Hypernyms

Words that are more generic than the original word.