The AI-powered English dictionary
countable and uncountable, plural depredations
An act of consuming agricultural resources (crops, livestock), especially as plunder. quotations examples
An animal that produces only two to four young per year cannot suffer vast depredations on the adult population without drastic effects.
1983, Richard Ellis, The Book of Sharks, Knopf, page 61
Depredation of cultivated crops by elephants is widespread in both Africa and Asia.
2003, The Living Elephants: Evolutionary Ecology, Behavior, and Conservation, by R. Sukumar, page 299
A raid or predatory attack. quotations examples
Despite losing its overall roof to the depredations of the Luftwaffe in the Second World War, the main building survives in all its Gothic glory.
2022 November 30, Paul Bigland, “Destination Oban: a Sunday in Scotland”, in RAIL, number 971, page 74