Word of the Day
: August 20, 2017depredate
playWhat It Means
1 : to lay waste : plunder, ravage
2 : to engage in plunder
depredate in Context
The bear that depredated the beekeeper's hives has been caught and relocated.
"IDFG Director Virgil Moore … talked to the commissioners about possible solutions to the growing problem of destructive elk tearing down fences, depredating ranch haystacks and pushing beef cows and calves off their feed." — The Challis (Idaho) Messenger, 10 Nov. 2016
Did You Know?
Depredate derives primarily from the Latin verb praedari, meaning "to plunder," an ancestor to our words predator and prey. Dating to the 17th century, the word most commonly appears in contexts relating to nature and ecology, where it is often used to describe the methodical, almost automatic destruction of life. That's how the film critic Stanley Kauffman, for example, used it to summarize the plot of the famous horror movie Jaws (1975): "A killer shark depredates the beach of an island summer resort. Several people are killed. Finally, the shark is killed. That's the story."
Name That Synonym
What 5-letter word is a synonym of depredate and also a noun meaning "great confusion and disorder"?
VIEW THE ANSWERMore Words of the Day
-
Apr 24
ostensible
-
Apr 23
slough
-
Apr 22
liaison
-
Apr 21
bodacious
-
Apr 20
resurrection
-
Apr 19
fastidious