depopulated
UK[ˌdiːˈpɒpjʊleɪtɪd]US[ˌdiːˈpɑːpjʊleɪtɪd]
adj
(of a place) having had its population greatly reduced.
verb (past tense)
to greatly reduce the population of a place.
Morpheme Breakdown
de
popul
ated
de
remove
popul
people
ated
adjective/verb suffix
Etymology
the word 'depopulated' is built upon the latin root 'populus', meaning 'people', which itself has a deep indo-european ancestry. the prefix 'de-' signifies a removal or reversal, directly altering the state of the root. the suffix '-ated' marks it as a verb in the past tense or an adjective describing the resulting condition. thus, the literal construction 'to remove the people' evolved into the modern abstract meaning of describing an area whose inhabitants have been drastically reduced, often due to disaster, war, or economic decline.
Analysis
Structure: de (remove) + popul (people) + ated (adjective/verb suffix)
de- (latin origin, prefix meaning 'removal' or 'reversal'); popul (latin origin, from 'populus' meaning 'people'); -ated (latin origin via french, suffix forming adjectives or past participles of verbs).
Examples
the war left vast areas of the countryside depopulated.
the industrial decline has slowly depopulated the city over decades.
they surveyed the depopulated villages, now reclaimed by nature.