To remove people from a place; to depopulate or cause an area to lose its inhabitants.
From de- (Latin prefix meaning to remove or reverse) plus people (from Old French peple, from Latin populus, meaning the people or population). The word formation follows the pattern of other de- verbs like 'deforest' and 'defame.'
The verb 'depeople' captures something that happened across history during forced relocations, colonial expansion, and pandemics—the deliberate or accidental emptying of regions is a recurring tragedy that words like this help us understand.
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