Definition of "depopulate" [de•pop•u•late]

• To reduce sharply the population of, as by disease, war, or forcible relocation. (verb-transitive)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "Below is a letter to livestock producers in Illinois asking them and others to contact the Governor's office to ask to be allowed to be present at a meeting between Homeland Security and the USDA which involves NAIS and "surge capacity" under Homeland Security to attack and seize and destroy - "depopulate" an area of - animals."
• "But the bigger problem is the systemic one created by legislators themselves: state law mandates that Citizens Property Insurance "depopulate" policies even to untested, unrated, inexperienced private insurance companies."
• "An email that went out recently talks about the government and their plans to "depopulate" the country."