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
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
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
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
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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Yet, there are some extinctions that have felt significantly more tragic than others.—
Scott Travers,
Forbes.com,
18 Sep. 2025
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Waves of trilobite extinctions swept the oceans, and an ancient planet better known for its explosion of life now saw the ambition of this frenzied new animal world periodically stifled under a high-CO2 hothouse.—
Peter Brannen,
Quanta Magazine,
15 Sep. 2025
Noun
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Syria’s current government has in some cases released Assadist figures accused of massacres and appointed former militia leaders accused of crimes against civilians to high ranks in the new army.—
Robin Yassin-Kassab,
Time,
17 Sep. 2025
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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
Cite this Entry
“Depredations.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/depredations. Accessed 20 Sep. 2025.
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