deforest
/di'fɔrist/
Học thuậtThân thiện
The company's plan to deforest the area for agriculture sparked widespread protest.
Definition
- Verb:
- To clear of trees; to remove the forest from: The primary meaning of "deforest" is the deliberate, large-scale removal of trees and forest cover from an area of land.
Usage
- The verb "deforest" is typically used in environmental, geographical, and economic contexts. It describes a human-caused process that changes the landscape.
- It is a transitive verb, meaning it requires a direct object (e.g., ).
- The term often carries a negative connotation, implying environmental degradation or loss of natural habitat.
Examples
- Verb:
- The company's plan to deforest the hillside for agriculture sparked public protest.
- Satellite images show that illegal loggers continue to deforest the Amazon rainforest.
- Historically, settlers would deforest land to create fields for farming.
Advanced Usage
- "Deforested" (past participle/adjective): Used to describe land from which trees have been removed.
- The deforested slopes were prone to severe erosion.
- "Deforesting" (gerund/noun): The act or process of clearing forests.
- Deforesting for palm oil plantations is a major driver of habitat loss.
Variants and Related Words
- Deforestation (n): The process or result of deforesting; the state of being cleared of forests.
- The government introduced policies to reduce the rate of deforestation.
- Reforest (v): The opposite action; to replant an area with trees.
- The organization's goal is to reforest the deforested valley.
Synonyms
- Clear-cut: To cut down all the trees in a section of forest.
- Denude: To strip something of its covering, in this context, trees.
- Log: To cut down trees for timber (can imply the action that leads to deforestation).
Antonyms
- Afforest: To convert land into forest.
- Reforest: To replant with trees.
- Preserve: To maintain in an existing state, such as a forest.
Phrases and Collocations
- To deforest land/an area/a region: The most common collocation, specifying what is being cleared.
- The project would deforest a vast area of pristine wilderness.
- Driven to deforest: Indicates the cause or motivation behind the action.
- Poverty and lack of alternatives can drive people to deforest their surroundings.
The company's plan to deforest the area for agriculture sparked widespread protest.
Verb
- remove the trees from
- The landscape was deforested by the enemy attacks