deforest

verb

de·​for·​est (ˌ)dē-ˈfȯr-əst 

-ˈfär-

deforested; deforesting; deforests

transitive verb

: to clear (an area) of forests : to remove trees from (an area)

As eroded hillsides become useless, the displaced farmers move still farther up the mountains, deforesting still more land.

—Jane Jacobs

Overgrazing has joined with the wide use of wood fuels to deforest large areas.

—Nathaniel Sheppard, Jr.

Examples of deforest in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

The company has committed to having 100 percent of its leather sourced from land not converted from a natural ecosystem or deforested for the grazing of cows, which will apply to European leather by 2025 and global sourcing by 2030. —Rhonda Richford, WWD, 31 Oct. 2024

Based on a study published in Nature Sustainability a few months ago, 1.4 million hectares (the equivalent of nine cities the size of Greater London) were deforested in 2015 to open space for pasture for cows to graze. —Simi Thambi​, Forbes, 29 Oct. 2024

That’s the lesson behind a study out this week in the Journal of Applied Ecology in which researchers assessed which worms, ants, and other invertebrates were wiggling their way through plots of soil that had been deforested, revegetated, or left natural. —Hannah Richter, science.org, 16 Aug. 2024

Up to 70,000 acres in Michoacán and neighboring Jalisco state have been deforested for avocado farming in the last decade, the data from Guardian Forestal and Climate Rights International show. —Reuters, NBC News, 6 Aug. 2024

Reuters visited two orchards in July that an analysis of satellite images by U.S. nonprofit Climate Rights International showed were illegally deforested in Madero after 2015. —Reuters, NBC News, 6 Aug. 2024

At the northern end of the county, a developer is deforesting upward of 500 acres in an area known as Clevenger’s Corner. —Dana Milbank, Washington Post, 10 July 2024

Using environmental geographers, satellite images and Mexican government estimates, the NGO Climate Rights International estimates that the area deforested for these plantations is between 16,000 and 28,000 hectares. —Chas Newkey-Burden, The Week Uk, theweek, 14 June 2024

Brazil is one of the world’s biggest beef exporters, with more cattle than people, and in the Amazon, 86% of the areas deforested between 1985 and 2020 became pastures, according to an analysis from environmental nonprofit Imazon. —Andre Cabette Fabio, The Christian Science Monitor, 14 Dec. 2023

Word History

Etymology

de- + forest entry 1

First Known Use

1661, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for deforest

• aorist
• folklorist
• rainforest
• chorused
• forest
• sorest

Biographical Definition

De Forest

biographical name

De For·​est di-ˈfȯr-əst 

-ˈfär-

Lee 1873–1961 American inventor