Word.ws English Dictionary

defoliate

UK/diːˈfəʊliː(j)eɪt/

defoliate verb: to remove foliage from (one or more plants), most often with a chemical agent.

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.
    • Agent Orange was used to defoliate jungle vegetation.
    • These leaves are the moth’s only source of food, and if left unchecked, the caterpillars can completely defoliate a single mighty tree.2020, Aimee Nezhukumatathil, World of Wonders: In Praise of Fireflies, Whale Sharks, and Other Astonishments, Minneapolis: Milkweed Editions, →ISBN, page 2

Adjective

defoliate (comparative more defoliate, superlative most defoliate)

  1. Deprived of leaves; defoliated.

defoliate meaning in Urdu and Kannada

defoliate in Urdu

پتے توڑ ڈالنا

defoliate in Kannada

ಸೊಪ್ಪುಕಳೆ

Forms of defoliate

Verb
third-person singular presentdefoliates
present participledefoliating
past participledefoliated
pastdefoliated
Adjective
comparativemore defoliate
superlativemost defoliate

Origin of defoliate

From de- + foliate.

Words formed from defoliate

Questions about defoliate

What does defoliate mean?
Defoliate means to remove foliage from (one or more plants), most often with a chemical agent.
What is defoliate in Urdu?
Defoliate in Urdu is پتے توڑ ڈالنا. See Defoliate meaning in Urdu.
What part of speech is defoliate?
Defoliate can be a verb or an adjective.
How do you pronounce defoliate?
Defoliate is pronounced /diːˈfəʊliː(j)eɪt/ (UK).
What is the past tense of defoliate?
The past tense of defoliate is defoliated.

Words near defoliate in the dictionary

  1. defoiled
  2. defoiling
  3. defoils
  4. defoliant
  5. defoliants
  6. defoliate
  7. defoliated
  8. defoliates
  9. defoliating
  10. defoliation
  11. defoliations

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: defoliate (page history and authors); defoliate (Urdu Wiktionary) (page history and authors); defoliate (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this entry: “defoliate.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/defoliate. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.