overwordExplorer
ENGLISH · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

defoliate.

To remove foliage from (one or more plants), most often with a chemical agent.

9 characters3 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

verb/diːˈfəʊliː(j)eɪt/UK

  1. To remove foliage from (one or more plants), most often with a chemical agent.

    transitive
    Agent Orange was used to defoliate jungle vegetation.
Where this word comes from

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *de Proto-Indo-European *-h₁ Proto-Indo-European *déh₁ Proto-Italic *dē Latin dē Latin dē-der. English de- Proto-Indo-European *bʰleh₃-der. Proto-Indo-European *bʰolh₃yom? Proto-Indo-European *dʰelh₁-der. Proto-Indo-European *dʰolh₁yom? Proto-Italic *foljom Latin folium Proto-Indo-European *-h₂ Proto-Indo-European *-éh₂ Proto-Indo-European *-tós Proto-Indo-European *-eh₂tos Proto-Italic *-ātos Latin -ātus Latin foliatusbor. English foliate English defoliate From de- + foliate.

adj/diːˈfəʊliː(j)eɪt/UK

  1. Deprived of leaves; defoliated.

Where this word comes from

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *de Proto-Indo-European *-h₁ Proto-Indo-European *déh₁ Proto-Italic *dē Latin dē Latin dē-der. English de- Proto-Indo-European *bʰleh₃-der. Proto-Indo-European *bʰolh₃yom? Proto-Indo-European *dʰelh₁-der. Proto-Indo-European *dʰolh₁yom? Proto-Italic *foljom Latin folium Proto-Indo-European *-h₂ Proto-Indo-European *-éh₂ Proto-Indo-European *-tós Proto-Indo-European *-eh₂tos Proto-Italic *-ātos Latin -ātus Latin foliatusbor. English foliate English defoliate From de- + foliate.

FROM WORD TO NAME

Try it on your idea.

defoliate has 9 characters. Say it out loud, try it alongside a description of your project, and see whether its meaning fits what you want to create.

defoliate studiodefoliate workshello, defoliate

These are naming prompts. Meanings and pronunciation can vary; existing brand and domain uses have not been checked.

Explore the name generator

A word with a source.

Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.

Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.