deplete

verb

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

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

   “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: […].”

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

   “[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.”

2. (transitive)To reduce the amount of; to remove (a substance from something):
3. (transitive)To reduce the amount of; to remove (a substance from something):

   “Certain medications can deplete vitamin D.”

4. (transitive)To reduce the amount of; to remove (a substance from something):

   “Its reserves have been invaded and depleted.”

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

5. (rare, transitive)To reduce the amount of; to remove (a substance from something):
6. (transitive)To empty or purge (something of a substance).

   “The conservation project depleted the lake of algae.”

   “This drug can deplete the body of magnesium.”

   “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.”

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

7. (transitive)To empty or purge (something of a substance).

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

8. (transitive)To empty or purge (something of a substance).

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

9. (intransitive)To diminish in quantity or strength; to be consumed.

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

   “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.”

10. (intransitive)To diminish in quantity or strength; to be consumed.

    “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⁺.”

11. (intransitive)To diminish in quantity or strength; to be consumed.

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