Definition of "depletion" []

• The act or process of depleting. (noun)
• The state of being depleted; exhaustion. (noun)
• The use or consumption of a resource, especially a natural resource, faster than it is replenished. (noun)

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.

• "In conclusion, drug-induced nutrient depletion is far more common than we thought."
• "Consistent in the sense that Wada et al's finding of increasing groundwater depletion is in line with Syed et al's finding that the rate of river runoff is increasing."
• "And while we're on the subject, ozone depletion is not the same as climate change; it happens everywhere outside the tropics, all the year round, not just in the Antarctic (ozone levels over the UK in the spring have fallen by as much as 50%); but it is, thanks to the Montreal Protocol, thought to be at its worst round about now, and should soon start to recover."