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Recent Examples of defoliate
In addition to being unsightly, the caterpillars can partially defoliate and weaken the plants.
—
Mary Marlowe Leverette, Southern Living, 12 June 2025
Plants can defoliate all their leaves before any sign of the disease is obvious.
—Rita Perwich, San Diego Union-Tribune, 7 June 2025
Thielen noted that the three St. Louis County wildfires were zero percent contained as of early Tuesday afternoon, and that the dry and windy conditions Tuesday and Wednesday are conducive to wildfire spread in an area heavily defoliated by the spruce budworm.
—Katie Rohman, Twin Cities, 13 May 2025
This bright red insect can severely defoliate these lilies.
—Pamm Cooper, Hartford Courant, 10 May 2025
See All Example Sentences for defoliate
Mary Marlowe Leverette, Southern Living, 12 June 2025
Plants can defoliate all their leaves before any sign of the disease is obvious.
—Rita Perwich, San Diego Union-Tribune, 7 June 2025
Thielen noted that the three St. Louis County wildfires were zero percent contained as of early Tuesday afternoon, and that the dry and windy conditions Tuesday and Wednesday are conducive to wildfire spread in an area heavily defoliated by the spruce budworm.
—Katie Rohman, Twin Cities, 13 May 2025
This bright red insect can severely defoliate these lilies.
—Pamm Cooper, Hartford Courant, 10 May 2025
See All Example Sentences for defoliate
Recent Examples of Synonyms for defoliate
Verb
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The animals were valued for their fur and often trapped and skinned, while logging destroyed much of their habitat.—
Laura Baisas,
Popular Science,
22 Jan. 2026
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In the fall, the workers trade in their pruning shears for knives sharp enough to skin a deer in minutes.—
Craig Shoup,
Nashville Tennessean,
28 Nov. 2025
Verb
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And anyone who has tried to record a podcast while the neighbor has the leaf-blower out or their dog is barking will know that this sort of environmental control saves a whole lot of post-production time and headaches.—
New Atlas,
New Atlas,
24 Jan. 2026
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As Dumars and Byrne, Damon and Affleck are reduced to growling law-enforcement speak, barking into walkie-talkies and carrying out every conversation while at least one hand rests on an automatic weapon—just in case someone bursts through the wall.—
David Sims,
The Atlantic,
21 Jan. 2026
Verb
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This clever stem remover gadget makes hulling strawberries quick and clean.—
Nora Colomer
may earn a commission if you buy through our referral links. This content was created by a team that works independently from the Fox newsroom.,
FOXNews.com,
24 Oct. 2025
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Both hulled and unhulled pumpkin seeds provide more magnesium than sunflower seeds.—
Brittany Lubeck,
Verywell Health,
21 Oct. 2025
Verb
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Just husk the corn, remove the silk and grill those cobs naked so they’re lightly charred, sweet, slightly crisp with a roasty popcorn taste.—
Beth Dooley,
Boston Herald,
20 Aug. 2025
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Examples include chopping bee, husking bee, logging bee, quilting bee, house- or barn-raising bee, sewing bee, spinning be, and, ultimately, spelling bee.—
Richard Lederer,
San Diego Union-Tribune,
7 June 2025
Verb
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Most repellent of all is a slow-burn sequence in which the Jimmys, having stumbled on a small community of survivors, proceed to string them up in a barn and gradually, meticulously flay them alive.—
Justin Chang,
New Yorker,
16 Jan. 2026
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Koch was a real-life Nazi war criminal, played here by Krieps, whose sick specialties include flaying the skin off of Jewish people and making objects out of it like lampshades.—
William Earl,
Variety,
4 Oct. 2025
Verb
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ProPublica and High Country News observed overgrazing in multiple states, including streambeds trampled by cattle, grasslands denuded by grazing and creeks fouled by cow corpses.—
Mark Olalde,
ProPublica,
12 Jan. 2026
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The school itself is one story and sprawling, the campus denuded of pine trees.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
22 Oct. 2025
Verb
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Because peas are sweetest immediately after harvest, shelling and freezing them right away locks in their natural flavor before sugars convert to starch.—
Amber Love Bond,
Southern Living,
29 Jan. 2026
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Investigators quickly identified Armstrong, then 35, as a suspect after surveillance footage showed her vehicle near the scene shortly before the shooting and forensic evidence tied a gun registered to her to shell casings at the scene.—
Kiah Collier,
Austin American Statesman,
23 Jan. 2026
Verb
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Democrats are demanding that the DHS portion of the bill be stripped from the package and weighed separately to make changes to how the agency operates, a move that Republicans have so far resisted.—
Garrett Downs,Emily Wilkins,
CNBC,
28 Jan. 2026
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The exact terms of Engstrand’s departure are unclear, but being stripped of play-calling marked a clear demotion.—
Zack Rosenblatt,
New York Times,
28 Jan. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Defoliate.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/defoliate. Accessed 30 Jan. 2026.
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