as in exterminations
formal
a usually violent act in which something is damaged or destroyed or in which a person or animal is killed
The town had somehow escaped the depredations of enemy soldiers.
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Recent Examples of depredations
From July 1, 2023 to June 30, 2024, Idaho Wildlife Services investigated 99 wolf depredations.
—
Nathan Rott, NPR, 21 Aug. 2025
McQueen has claimed that depredations on livestock and pets by wolves in her county have become a public safety concern.
—Dac Collins, Outdoor Life, 14 Aug. 2025
Nathan Rott, NPR, 21 Aug. 2025
McQueen has claimed that depredations on livestock and pets by wolves in her county have become a public safety concern.
—Dac Collins, Outdoor Life, 14 Aug. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for depredations
Noun
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Unlike the dinosaurs, however, researchers and wildlife officials are working to slow down or even stop these extinctions — and sometimes bring animals back from the brink.—
Irene Wright,
Miami Herald,
4 Sep. 2025
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The key for the future may be keeping rates of environmental change slow enough to avoid extinctions.—
Kenna Hughes-Castleberry,
Space.com,
29 Aug. 2025
Noun
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The platform was then embroiled in the Cambridge Analytica scandal and accused of allowing misinformation that skewed elections in the US and other western countries, and led to massacres in places like Myanmar.—
Reed Albergotti,
semafor.com,
3 Sep. 2025
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The lack of fighting in urban centers prevented Hamas from taking the initiative, often leaving it a passive bystander to the massacres of Palestinians.—
Leila Seurat,
Foreign Affairs,
26 Aug. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Depredations.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/depredations. Accessed 9 Sep. 2025.
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