Dictionary

denude en · VERB

Pronunciation

• (Southern-England) audio
• /dɪˈnjuːd/

Etymology

From Middle French dénuder, from Latin dēnūdāre, from dē- + nūdus (“bare”).

Meanings

1. To divest of all covering; to make bare or naked; to strip.
   • Widespread deforestation has led to lands being denuded.
   • They not only visit adultery on the guilty man himself by beating him, but the men proceed en masse to the house of his parents and denude it of all furniture, stores of grain, and merchandise. 1898, Arnold Henry Savage Landor, In the Forbidden Land:
   • But King Piko had been long harassed with the thought, that the unobstructed and indefinite increase of his browsing subjects might eventually denude of herbage his portion of the island. 1849, Herman Melville, Mardi: And a Voyage Thither. […], volume (please specify |volume=I or II), New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers, […], →OCLC:
   • He denuded himself of his clothes.
2. To remove (something or someone) of their possessions or assets.
   • And Louisa, a niece of Pierre, claimed his inheritance on the death of Suzanne. Thus, in her cruel anger, she hoped to denude the Constable of the whole of the heritage of his dead wife. 1886, A. Mary F. Robinson, Margaret of Angoulême, Queen of Navarre:
   • The service was denuded of its capacity to deliver.
   • Their property was seized, denuded and confiscated.
3. To strip (a mountain, volcano, or other geological formation) by erosion of outer layers so as to lay bare the inner structure.
   • The well-known hill of Arthur’s Seat, which overlooks the city of Edinburgh, and many castle-crowned crags of the Forth and Clyde valleys, are the worn and denuded relics of these small volcanoes. 1903, John W. Judd, Volcanoes: What they are and what they teach, page 275:

Forms

Deriveds

denuder · denudement

Relateds

uncover · denudation · disrobe · denudatory

Translations (16)

no kle av (divest of all covering) · cs obnažit (divest of all covering) · pl obnażyć (divest of all covering) · no avkle (divest of all covering) · bg оголвам (divest of all covering) · cs zbavit (remove of possessions) · cs zbavit porostu (divest of all covering) · tr çıplaklaştırmak (divest of all covering) · cmn 剥光 (divest of all covering) · ru обнажать (divest of all covering) · cs odebrat (remove of possessions) · pl obnażać (divest of all covering) · grc γυμνόω (divest of all covering) · ru лиша́ть (divest of all covering) · cmn 剥夺 (divest of all covering) · es desnudar (divest of all covering)