noun
depredation
dep-ruh-DAY-shun/ˌdeprəˈdeɪʃn/
Destruction or theft caused by attack or exploitation.
The village suffers repeated depredations at the hands of armed raiders.
Etymology
Here de- strengthens the idea of plundering: thoroughly making prey of something. Originally naming the act of pillaging, the word also names the damage and destruction such attacks cause.
In context
there had been another stock killing the night before while he had been on the first level the locality of the latest depredation had confirmed his estimate of the beast's probable movements
More examples
- Illegal logging exposes the forest to further depredation.
- The museum lost several treasures to the depredations of looters.
- Farmers use fences to protect crops from the depredations of wild pigs.
Forms
depredation · depredations
Similar words
- plunder
- Emphasizes stealing goods by force rather than damage alone.
- devastation
- Emphasizes widespread destruction, without necessarily involving theft or exploitation.