Depauperate
adj, verb ·Rare ·Advanced level
Definitions
- 1 To impoverish. obsolete
"Liming […] does not so much depauperate; the ground will last long, and beareth larger grain."
- 2 To stunt the growth of.
- 1 Having stunted growth usually
- 2 Impoverished. obsolete
- 3 Having a limited biodiversity.
"2009, David Quammen, Where the Salmon Rule, National Geographic (August 2009), page 35, "...because of Kamchatka's isolation from mainland river systems, its streams are relatively depauperate of other fresh water fish, leaving Oncorhynchus species to face few competitors and predators.""
Example
More examples"2009, David Quammen, Where the Salmon Rule, National Geographic (August 2009), page 35, "...because of Kamchatka's isolation from mainland river systems, its streams are relatively depauperate of other fresh water fish, leaving Oncorhynchus species to face few competitors and predators.""
Etymology
From Middle English depauperat (“impoverished”), from Medieval Latin depauperātus (“impoverished”), past participle of depauperō (“to impoverish”), itself from Latin de- + pauperō (“to impoverish”), from pauper (“poor”). Equivalent to de- + pauper + -ate (adjective-forming suffix). Cognate with Italian depauperare, Spanish depauperar.
From the above adjective; see -ate for more. Equivalent to de- + pauper + -ate (verb-forming suffix).
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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.