Home / Words / depleteNo. 0091

deplete

/dɪˈpliːt//dɪˈpliːt/·verb
to use up the supply of something faster than it is replaced
Fig. 1 — I watch a phone pulled off the charger and run hard, its battery falling step by step — green, then yellow, then red — with energy bleeding off the side as it goes.
01Definition

To deplete is to empty by use — the Latin deplere, 'to un-fill', is the exact mirror of 'replete' and 'complete', which share its root plere, 'to fill'. The word is quietly mathematical: fish stocks, aquifers, savings, and stamina all deplete when the rate of taking outruns the rate of return. Nothing dramatic happens at any single moment — that is depletion's danger; each withdrawal looks exactly like the last one, except that eventually nothing stands behind it.

02In use
  • iDecades of overfishing have severely depleted the region's cod stocks.
  • iiThe long legal battle depleted the family's savings.
  • iiiIntensive farming left the soils depleted of nutrients.
03Collocations
  • deplete resources
  • deplete reserves
  • severely depleted
  • ozone depletion
  • depleted soils

Family depletion (noun) · depleted (adjective)

04Relations

=exhaust, drain, use up, consume, erode

≠replenish, restore, accumulate

05Compared
PairThe difference
deplete vs accumulatesmall amounts keep adding up → accumulate; a supply keeps draining down → deplete.
deplete vs amassa great store built up → amass; a supply drawn down to nothing → deplete.
deplete vs build upa store raised and strengthened → build up; drawn down to nothing → deplete.
deplete vs diminisha finite store drained toward empty → deplete; a magnitude or standing made smaller, concrete or abstract → diminish.
deplete vs dissipatea store used up → deplete; something that disperses and vanishes → dissipate (deplete a supply; mist dissipates).

Also compared with pile up

06TOEFL & IELTS

The backbone of IELTS environment essays: 'the depletion of natural resources' is practically a required phrase, and 'severely depleted fish stocks' upgrades any example. TOEFL earth-science passages rely on 'ozone depletion' and depleted aquifers. Learn it as a pair with 'replenish' — exams test the contrast — and note its opposite number on this site: accumulate.

07Asked
What is the difference between deplete and exhaust?
A matter of degree. Deplete is to draw down heavily, leaving little — depleted reserves still have something in them. Exhaust is to use up entirely, leaving nothing — exhausted reserves are empty. You deplete a battery toward red; you exhaust it when the screen goes black. The scene above is depletion right up to that final flat line.
What is the difference between deplete and reduce?
Reduce is neutral and can be deliberate or partial — you reduce prices, reduce speed, on purpose and often for the better. Deplete is loss by drawing-down, and it is almost always unwelcome: depleted stocks, depleted energy. Reduce is a dial you turn; deplete is a level that quietly falls the more you take.
What does 'ozone depletion' mean?
The thinning of the ozone layer high in the atmosphere, which shields the surface from ultraviolet radiation — driven largely by CFC chemicals now phased out under the Montreal Protocol. It is the word's flagship collocation in science writing: a slow, cumulative loss with no single dramatic moment, exactly the danger deplete names.
What does 'depleted' mean?
Drawn down to a low level — depleted savings, depleted soil, a depleted squad. The adjective is where deplete does most of its work, usually with an intensifier: 'severely depleted', 'badly depleted'. In its technical use, 'depleted' describes a material with most of a component removed, as when depleted soil has lost its nutrients.
What is the opposite of deplete?
Replenish — to fill back up what has been drawn down (replenish supplies, replenish energy) — with restore and top up close behind. On this site the antonym pairing runs the other way, toward building rather than refilling: deplete vs accumulate, two scenes side by side, in the 'Compared' list above.