depopulate
/diːˈpɒpjəleɪt/
"depopulate" is a 10-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“depopulate” is uncommon English (outside the top frequency list), classed as a verb. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency English
- 10
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - To reduce the population of a region by disease, war, forced relocation etc.
Corpus desk
Index EN-depopulate · depopulate · English
depopulate · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
- LEN-MEGA 10 letters
- VOW-5 5 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-THIN "D" thin
- PHOTO-UNK Peer pending
Read with this headword: Spelling guide for this pattern
Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | depopulate |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Verb |
| IPA | /diːˈpɒpjəleɪt/ |
| Letters | 10 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Long-tail rank of “depopulate” in English
Rare enough to double-check
depopulate is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as averb, transcribed /diːˈpɒpjəleɪt/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 3 senses are on record.
No misspelling variants are generated for depopulate in our index, a sign its spelling follows regular English conventions. Our confusable-pair dataset has no match for it, which usually means its spelling is distinct enough that readers don't reach for a similar-looking word instead.
Etymologically, the entry records: First attested in 1531; borrowed from Latin dēpopulātus, perfect active participle of dēpopulor (see -ate (verb-forming suffix) and -ate (adjective-forming suffix)). Compare depeople, French dépeupler, Italian spopolare, Spanish despoblar, Portuguese despov… The correct English form is depopulate, spelled D-E-P-O-P-U-L-A-T-E.
Definition
- 1To reduce the population of a region by disease, war, forced relocation etc.
- 2To remove the components from a circuit board.
- 3To become depopulated, to lose its population.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how depopulate appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
Where is this viper That would depopulate the city and Be every man himself?
So two young Mountain Lions, nurs’d with Blood In deep Recesses of the gloomy Wood, Rush fearless to the Plains, and uncontroul’d Depopulate the Stalls and waste the Fold;
Etymology
First attested in 1531; borrowed from Latin dēpopulātus, perfect active participle of dēpopulor (see -ate (verb-forming suffix) and -ate (adjective-forming suffix)). Compare depeople, French dépeupler, Italian spopolare, Spanish despoblar, Portuguese despovoar and Romanian despopora; by surface analysis, de- + populate. Participial usage of the adjective up until Early Modern English.
This word in other languages
Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.