Meanings
present singular third person disafforests · participle present disafforesting · participle past disafforested · past disafforested
- To deforest.
- UKlawTo change the status of land from that of a forest to ordinary land.
The Charter of the Forests had for its object the disafforesting several of those tracts; the prevention of future afforestings: the mitigation and ascertainment of the punishments for breaches of the Forest Law.
1760, Edmund Burke, “An Essay towards an Abridgment of the English History. […]”, in [Walker King], editor, The Works of the Right Honourable Edmund Burke, new edition, volume X, London: […] [R. Gilbert] for C[harles] and J[ohn] Rivington, […], published 1826, →OCLC, book III, page 534Synonyms: deafforest
Synonyms & antonyms
verbTo change the status of land from that of a forest to ordinary land.
More synonyms by meaning
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
- Latindisafforestō
- Anglo-Normandisaforester
- Middle Englishdisafforeten
- Englishdisafforest
From Middle English disafforeten, from Anglo-Norman disaforester and its probable etymon Latin disafforestō. By surface analysis, dis- + afforest.
More words from Middle English, Anglo-Norman, Latin
Full word history & related roots →Cite this entry
disafforest. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/disafforest
“disafforest.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/disafforest. Accessed November 4, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “disafforest,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/disafforest.
Source: disafforest on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.