"defoliate" meaning in English

See defoliate in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Adjective

IPA: /diːˈfəʊliː(j)eɪt/ [UK] Forms: more defoliate [comparative], most defoliate [superlative]
Etymology: From de- + foliate. Etymology templates: {{prefix|en|de|foliate}} de- + foliate Head templates: {{en-adj}} defoliate (comparative more defoliate, superlative most defoliate)
  1. Deprived of leaves; defoliated.
    Sense id: en-defoliate-en-adj--4EFz4if

Verb

IPA: /diːˈfəʊliː(j)eɪt/ [UK] Forms: defoliates [present, singular, third-person], defoliating [participle, present], defoliated [participle, past], defoliated [past]
Etymology: From de- + foliate. Etymology templates: {{prefix|en|de|foliate}} de- + foliate Head templates: {{en-verb}} defoliate (third-person singular simple present defoliates, present participle defoliating, simple past and past participle defoliated)
  1. (transitive) To remove foliage from (one or more plants), most often with a chemical agent. Tags: transitive Derived forms: defoliant, defoliation, defoliator, nondefoliating Translations (to remove foliage from plants): обезлистявам (obezlistjavam) (Bulgarian), defoliar (Catalan), défolier (French), entlauben (German), kōmuku (Maori), desfolhar (Portuguese), defoliar (Spanish), avlöva (Swedish)
    Sense id: en-defoliate-en-verb-34y6zgCK Categories (other): English entries with incorrect language header, English terms prefixed with de-, Entries with translation boxes, Terms with Bulgarian translations, Terms with Catalan translations, Terms with French translations, Terms with German translations, Terms with Maori translations, Terms with Portuguese translations, Terms with Spanish translations, Terms with Swedish translations Disambiguation of English entries with incorrect language header: 38 62 Disambiguation of English terms prefixed with de-: 41 59 Disambiguation of Entries with translation boxes: 22 78 Disambiguation of Terms with Bulgarian translations: 30 70 Disambiguation of Terms with Catalan translations: 30 70 Disambiguation of Terms with French translations: 29 71 Disambiguation of Terms with German translations: 30 70 Disambiguation of Terms with Maori translations: 30 70 Disambiguation of Terms with Portuguese translations: 31 69 Disambiguation of Terms with Spanish translations: 30 70 Disambiguation of Terms with Swedish translations: 25 75

Inflected forms

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      "form": "defoliates",
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      "form": "defoliating",
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      "form": "defoliated",
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          "_dis": "38 62",
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      "derived": [
        {
          "word": "defoliant"
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          "word": "defoliation"
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        {
          "word": "defoliator"
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          "word": "nondefoliating"
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          "ref": "2020, Aimee Nezhukumatathil, World of Wonders: In Praise of Fireflies, Whale Sharks, and Other Astonishments, Minneapolis: Milkweed Editions, →ISBN, page 2:",
          "text": "These leaves are the moth’s only source of food, and if left unchecked, the caterpillars can completely defoliate a single mighty tree.",
          "type": "quotation"
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        "To remove foliage from (one or more plants), most often with a chemical agent."
      ],
      "id": "en-defoliate-en-verb-34y6zgCK",
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          "foliage",
          "foliage"
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      "raw_glosses": [
        "(transitive) To remove foliage from (one or more plants), most often with a chemical agent."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "transitive"
      ],
      "translations": [
        {
          "code": "bg",
          "lang": "Bulgarian",
          "lang_code": "bg",
          "roman": "obezlistjavam",
          "sense": "to remove foliage from plants",
          "word": "обезлистявам"
        },
        {
          "code": "ca",
          "lang": "Catalan",
          "lang_code": "ca",
          "sense": "to remove foliage from plants",
          "word": "defoliar"
        },
        {
          "code": "fr",
          "lang": "French",
          "lang_code": "fr",
          "sense": "to remove foliage from plants",
          "word": "défolier"
        },
        {
          "code": "de",
          "lang": "German",
          "lang_code": "de",
          "sense": "to remove foliage from plants",
          "word": "entlauben"
        },
        {
          "code": "mi",
          "lang": "Maori",
          "lang_code": "mi",
          "sense": "to remove foliage from plants",
          "word": "kōmuku"
        },
        {
          "code": "pt",
          "lang": "Portuguese",
          "lang_code": "pt",
          "sense": "to remove foliage from plants",
          "word": "desfolhar"
        },
        {
          "code": "es",
          "lang": "Spanish",
          "lang_code": "es",
          "sense": "to remove foliage from plants",
          "word": "defoliar"
        },
        {
          "code": "sv",
          "lang": "Swedish",
          "lang_code": "sv",
          "sense": "to remove foliage from plants",
          "word": "avlöva"
        }
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "ipa": "/diːˈfəʊliː(j)eɪt/",
      "tags": [
        "UK"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "defoliate"
}

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      "form": "more defoliate",
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    },
    {
      "form": "most defoliate",
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        "Deprived of leaves; defoliated."
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      ],
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        "(transitive) To remove foliage from (one or more plants), most often with a chemical agent."
      ],
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        "transitive"
      ]
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      "ipa": "/diːˈfəʊliː(j)eɪt/",
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    {
      "code": "bg",
      "lang": "Bulgarian",
      "lang_code": "bg",
      "roman": "obezlistjavam",
      "sense": "to remove foliage from plants",
      "word": "обезлистявам"
    },
    {
      "code": "ca",
      "lang": "Catalan",
      "lang_code": "ca",
      "sense": "to remove foliage from plants",
      "word": "defoliar"
    },
    {
      "code": "fr",
      "lang": "French",
      "lang_code": "fr",
      "sense": "to remove foliage from plants",
      "word": "défolier"
    },
    {
      "code": "de",
      "lang": "German",
      "lang_code": "de",
      "sense": "to remove foliage from plants",
      "word": "entlauben"
    },
    {
      "code": "mi",
      "lang": "Maori",
      "lang_code": "mi",
      "sense": "to remove foliage from plants",
      "word": "kōmuku"
    },
    {
      "code": "pt",
      "lang": "Portuguese",
      "lang_code": "pt",
      "sense": "to remove foliage from plants",
      "word": "desfolhar"
    },
    {
      "code": "es",
      "lang": "Spanish",
      "lang_code": "es",
      "sense": "to remove foliage from plants",
      "word": "defoliar"
    },
    {
      "code": "sv",
      "lang": "Swedish",
      "lang_code": "sv",
      "sense": "to remove foliage from plants",
      "word": "avlöva"
    }
  ],
  "word": "defoliate"
}

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    "Pages with entries",
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    "Terms with Catalan translations",
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  "etymology_text": "From de- + foliate.",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "more defoliate",
      "tags": [
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      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "most defoliate",
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        "superlative"
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  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "adj",
  "senses": [
    {
      "glosses": [
        "Deprived of leaves; defoliated."
      ]
    }
  ],
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    {
      "ipa": "/diːˈfəʊliː(j)eɪt/",
      "tags": [
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  ],
  "word": "defoliate"
}

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This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2026-02-01 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2026-01-01 using wiktextract (f492ef9 and 9905b1f). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

If you use this data in academic research, please cite Tatu Ylonen: Wiktextract: Wiktionary as Machine-Readable Structured Data, Proceedings of the 13th Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation (LREC), pp. 1317-1325, Marseille, 20-25 June 2022. Linking to the relevant page(s) under https://kaikki.org would also be greatly appreciated.