deplete
verb/dɪˈpliːt/
/dɪˈpliːt/
[transitive, usually passive, intransitive] (formal)Verb Forms
| present simple I / you / we / they deplete | /dɪˈpliːt/ /dɪˈpliːt/ |
| he / she / it depletes | /dɪˈpliːts/ /dɪˈpliːts/ |
| past simple depleted | /dɪˈpliːtɪd/ /dɪˈpliːtɪd/ |
| past participle depleted | /dɪˈpliːtɪd/ /dɪˈpliːtɪd/ |
| -ing form depleting | /dɪˈpliːtɪŋ/ /dɪˈpliːtɪŋ/ |
- deplete (something) to reduce something by a large amount so that there is not enough left; to be reduced by a large amount
- Food supplies were severely depleted.
- Supplies are depleting fast.
Extra Examples- Intensive fishing is depleting fish stocks in the North Sea.
- CFCs were widely used compounds which depleted the earth's ozone layer.
- Our cash reserves are being depleted at an alarming rate.
Oxford Collocations Dictionaryadverb- seriously
- severely
- quickly
- …
Word Originearly 19th cent.: from Latin deplet- ‘emptied out’, from the verb deplere, from de- (expressing reversal) + plere ‘fill’ (from plenus ‘full’).Definitions on the go
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deplete