depauperate en · ADJ · etymology 1
Pronunciation
- (Southern-England) audio
- /dɪˈpɔːpəɹət/
Etymology
From Middle English depauperat (“impoverished”), from Medieval Latin depauperātus (“impoverished”), past participle of depauperō (“to impoverish”), itself from Latin de- + pauperō (“to impoverish”), from pauper (“poor”). Equivalent to de- + pauper + -ate (adjective-forming suffix). Cognate with Italian depauperare, Spanish depauperar.
Meanings
- (of a plant, usually) Having stunted growth
- (obsolete) Impoverished.
-
Having a limited biodiversity.
2009, David Quammen, Where the Salmon Rule, National Geographic (August 2009), page 35, "...because of Kamchatka's isolation from mainland river systems, its streams are relatively depauperate of other fresh water fish, leaving Oncorhynchus species to face few competitors and predators."
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(of a paradigm) Displaying only a limited range of logically possible morphosyntactic combinations.
2018, William Foley, The languages of the Sepik-Ramu Basin and Environs, in The Languages and Linguistics of the New Guinea Area, page 405, "The morphological profile of Sko languages varies widely, from the nearly isolating structure of Dumo, with simply subject prefixation for verbs, and that depauperate, to the rich polysynthesis of Barupu."
Forms
| Spelling | Features | Labels | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| more depauperate | Degree=Cmp | lexicographic | |
| most depauperate | Degree=Sup | lexicographic |