verb
EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS
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Across the river, the Viet Cong territory was a number of scalped hills: it had been defoliated.
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So far, some sixty million acres of Eastern and Midwestern forest have been defoliated over the years.
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The adults defoliate plants, and the larvae feed on roots.
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The forest had already been defoliated and the oaks and aspens were expending precious energy sending out a second flush of leaves.
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The leaves are evergreen or semi-evergreen since they can be heavily defoliated in severe winters.
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The worst single year was 1981, when twelve million acres were defoliated.
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These same nitrogen oxides, in high but apparently plausible concentrations, will defoliate plants.
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These trees are eaten but not defoliated.