defoliating

present participle of defoliate

Example Sentences

Recent Examples of Synonyms for defoliating
Verb
  • Mainly looking to drown out a snoring partner, a barking dog or an overactive brain?
    — Hanna Wickes, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 9 Oct. 2026
  • Even Barnum understood that the public can balance a three ring circus and not follow the carnival barking of the ringmaster.
    — Jeffrey Sonnenfeld, Time, 7 Oct. 2026
Verb
  • Napoli were camped inside their own penalty area, tortoise-shelling, daring Arsenal to batter their way through.
    — Amy Lawrence, New York Times, 9 Sep. 2026
  • Lebanon's state news agency reported new airstrikes and shelling on their hometown over the weekend.
    — ABC News, ABC News, 31 Aug. 2026
Verb
  • The Saints also appeared to have scored a defensive touchdown when edge rusher Chase Young hit Lions QB Jared Goff hard from behind, sending the ball flaying backward toward the Detroit goal line.
    — ABC News, ABC News, 14 Sep. 2026
  • Dwight grabbed my arm, wrenching my hand out of my pocket, flaying it like a fish, pulling me along.
    — Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 15 May 2026
Verb
  • Burglars broke into one of her units overnight, stripping out the copper wiring and making off with every large appliance inside.
    — La'Tasha Givens, CBS News, 16 Oct. 2026
  • France Télévisions film chief Manuel Alduy has warned that the far-right Rassemblement National’s plan to privatize public broadcasting would devastate French cinema, stripping it from one of its biggest financiers.
    — Elsa Keslassy, Variety, 16 Oct. 2026
Verb
  • Yamaguchi prepared each course live, skinning a pike conger or breaking down live lobsters from his perch behind the grill.
    — Noah Kaufman, Bon Appetit Magazine, 7 Oct. 2026
  • If hunting or skinning animals, use gloves, and cook game meat thoroughly before eating.
    — Jen Christensen, CNN Money, 4 Aug. 2026
Verb
  • The legislation, which would have begun scaling back licenses for the occupation, was stalled in 2025.
    — Claire Carter, The Washington Examiner, 14 Oct. 2026
  • This is one shape of [a] research project of systematizing and scaling up searching for useful new tools in large databases and DNA sequences.
    — Adam Kovac, Scientific American, 14 Oct. 2026
Verb
  • The cover lifts up and back, exposing the build platform, resin tank, and vertical motion system with generous access from the front and sides.
    — Michael Lydick, PC Magazine, 14 Oct. 2026
  • Defensively, Jacksonville State presented FIU with its toughest test of the season, exposing vulnerabilities in a Panthers defense that entered the game ranked among the nation’s top 10.
    — Alejandro Hernandez, Miami Herald, 14 Oct. 2026
Verb
  • Groups then pull on rubber boots and get their hands dirty, learning to dig for clams and shucking fresh, raw oysters harvested directly from the beach.
    — Abigail Bliss, Denver Post, 5 Sep. 2026
  • Jack Callahan was just a kid when his dad, William, ran the place, with his wife using a VW van for deliveries and the kids – Jack included – shucking lobster meat for those famed rolls.
    — Moira McCarthy, Boston Herald, 15 Aug. 2026
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

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Cite this Entry

“Defoliating.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/defoliating. Accessed 18 Oct. 2026.

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