depredations

noun

plural of depredation
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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Example Sentences

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.
Recent Examples of depredations According to the Montana Grizzly Bear Conflict Dashboard, the state has recorded 101 conflicts so far this year, including 30 livestock depredations and 34 encounters with humans. — Andrew McKean, Outdoor Life, 15 July 2026 No amount of macho beatdowns in the UFC cage matches on the White House lawn will make anyone forget Epstein’s depredations. — Maureen Dowd, Mercury News, 18 June 2026 The striped bass shark depredations have also been occurring off Chatham’s Monomoy Island — a hotspot for seals, which attract great white sharks. — Rick Sobey, Boston Herald, 15 June 2026 His nanny was his fierce protector and insulated him from the depredations of Nazis and their enablers, baptizing him and teaching him to handily hurl anti-Jewish epithets to fit in. — Ron Kampeas, Sun Sentinel, 11 May 2026 Despite years of sitting on the sidelines, the United States has an opportunity to reassert itself in seeking to end the depredations of the junta and advance the cause of democracy in Myanmar. — Dan Swift, Foreign Affairs, 30 Sep. 2025 Much of Russian research never fully recovered from the depredations of the Stalin era. — Scott Montgomery, Forbes.com, 15 Sep. 2025 From July 1, 2023 to June 30, 2024, Idaho Wildlife Services investigated 99 wolf depredations. — Nathan Rott, NPR, 21 Aug. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for depredations
  1. extinctions
  2. massacres
  3. slaughters
Noun
  • The project supports countries that are trying to deliver Target 4 of the CBD Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework, which calls for governments around the world to halt extinctions and improve the conservation status of endangered species.
    — Mya Copeland, Variety, 4 Aug. 2026
  • Environmental organizations have decried the change as a complete gutting that will rapidly accelerate extinctions, and have sued in federal court.
    — Lizzie Kane, Sacbee.com, 31 July 2026
Definition of extinctions
Noun
  • In 2022, an ex-policeman armed with a gun and knife stormed into a nursery in the country's north and murdered 24 children and 12 adults in one of Thailand's deadliest massacres.
    — CBS News, CBS News, 7 Aug. 2026
  • Although scarce documentation has left a wide range of estimates, as many as 2 million people are said to have been slaughtered in communal massacres during this exodus.
    — Encyclopedia Britannica, Encyclopedia Britannica, 29 July 2026
Definition of massacres
Noun
  • By the eighth century, Charlemagne was organizing mass slaughters of the animal while the Church, wary of its earlier status as living god, denounced the bear as lewd, noting its disturbing resemblance to humans.
    — Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 30 July 2026
  • Hands-down one of the most disgusting movies ever made (a compliment), the film finds the indefatigable slasher, who was decapitated at the end of Terrifier 2, reattaching his head and commencing his ritual slaughters.
    — Declan Gallagher, Entertainment Weekly, 31 Oct. 2025
Definition of slaughters

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depredation
depredations
depredator
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Cite this Entry

“Depredations.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/depredations. Accessed 15 Aug. 2026.

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