deplete

present singular third person depletes · participle present depleting · participle past depleted · past depleted

1. transitiveTo reduce the amount of; to remove (a substance from something)

   The winter storm quickly depleted the salt supply of the county.

   3 more examples

   Their numbers have been very heavily depleted in the last few years, and soon a most familiar part of the southern railway scene will have vanished: […].

   1954 May, John W. Grant, “A Railway Requiem”, in Railway Magazine, page 352

   ... depleting the minerals and fuels of the more developed states, leading to a scarcity of these crucial resources.

   1975, William Roscoe Kintner, Harvey Sicherman, Technology and International Politics: The Crisis of Wishing

   [page 1-54:] Here [in Gabon ...], concentrations of slightly enriched uranium were deposited as sediments in a stream bed and formed seven separate water moderated reactors which operated for thousands of years, depleting the uranium and producing fission products, plutonium and other actinides.

   1982, Are Current Emergency Planning Requirements Justified?: Workshop Proceedings

2. To reduce the amount of; to remove (a substance from something):
   1. transitivechemistryTo expend or separate a reactant.
   2. transitivemedicineTo reduce the amount of a substance with a medication or medical procedure or due to a illness.

      Certain medications can deplete vitamin D.

   3. transitiveTo use up, exhaust, or consume (power or resources).

      Its reserves have been invaded and depleted.

      2007, John Zerzan, Silence

      1 more example

      Constant vigilance for social threats and the negative emotions it produces (e.g., anxiety) deplete self-regulatory resources.

      2022 October 25, L. J. Shrum, Elena Fumagalli, Tina M. Lowrey, “Coping with loneliness through consumption”, in Journal of Consumer Psychology, volume 33, number 2, →DOI, pages 441–465

   4. raretransitivenatural sciencesTo decrease the amount of an isotope (in a mixture of isotopes).

      Antonyms: enrich

3. transitiveTo empty or purge (something of a substance).

   This drug can deplete the body of magnesium.

   3 more examples

   The conservation project depleted the lake of algae.

   However, every Practitioner ought to be appriz'd of a ſtanding Truth in all Coughs of this Kind, that ſome proper Evacuations ought to precede, in order to revulſe the Motion from the Lungs to ſome distant Goal, as well as to deplete the Veſſels of ſuch a troubleſome Lodger.

   1716, [John Radcliffe], “Electuarium Phthiſicum”, in Pharmacopœia Radcliffeana: or, Dr. Radcliff's Preſcriptions, second corrected edition, London: Charles Rivington, page 22

   ... deplete the body of minerals, causing osteoporosis.

   2005, Teresa Cutter, The 80/20 Diet: 12 Weeks to a Better Body, Allen & Unwin, →ISBN, page 21

   1. transitivechemistryTo clear a compound or solution (of a reactant).

      Cycling also produces layered scales, as repeated spallation further depletes the compound of Al and allows Cr₂O₃ formation.

      2017 February 28, James L. Smialek, “Cr₂AlC Issues: Scale Adhesion”, in Unusual oxidative limitations for Al-MAX phases (NASA technical memorandum; 2017-219444), Cleveland, Ohio: NASA, →OCLC, page 15

   2. transitivenatural sciencesTo clear a mixture of isotopes (of an isotope or isotopes).

      The by-product of this process, which depletes uranium of its most radioactive isotopes, is called depleted uranium (DU).

      1999, Naomi H. Harley [et al.], A Review of the Scientific Literature As It Pertains to Gulf War Illnesses, volume 7: Depleted Uranium, Santa Monica, CA: RAND, →ISBN, →OCLC, page xiii

      Antonyms: enrich

4. intransitiveTo diminish in quantity or strength; to be consumed.

   I noticed a couple of days ago how quickly the battery depletes.

   2 more examples

   Depending on what you print, one color usually depletes faster than the others.

   He said that if I could not urinate within the next few hours I would be charged with refusing to comply with an order and be punished. In spite of my inability to eat much due to my depleted physical condition, I drank as much as I could and still was unable to urinate within the prescribed time.

   1989 December 17, Edward Inman, “Disobeying An Order To Piss Lands Transsexual In Isolation”, in Gay Community News, volume 17, number 23, page 5

   1. intransitivechemistryTo be expended or separated (of a substance).

      As can be seen in Fig. 1.49, FS 21 rapidly depletes of Li⁺ near the surface during the exposure to a NaNO₃ melt and simultaneously enriches in Na⁺.

      2008 June 24, Dagmar Hülsenberg, Alf Harnisch, Alexander Bismarck, “1. Silicate Glasses: A Class of Amorphous Materials”, in Microstructuring of Glasses, Berlin: Springer Science+Business Media, →DOI, →ISBN, →OCLC, page 54

   2. intransitivenatural sciencesTo undergo loss of an isotope.

      Since uranium depletes in this process, it is called fissile fuel, nuclear fuel or simply fuel.

      2025 February 10, Farid Gamgami, “11. Nuclear Propulsion Technology and Systems”, in Space Propulsion and Spaceship Design: A System Perspective, Berlin: Springer Science+Business Media, →DOI, →ISBN, →OCLC, page 54