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impoverish

Verb

IPA /ɪmˈpɒvərɪʃ/

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Meaning in plain English

To reduce the quality or richness of something.

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Pronunciation

impoverish/ɪmˈpɒvərɪʃ/

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A lesson has rich examples
All the examples are removed
The lesson loses useful depth

Removing useful examples can impoverish a lesson by reducing its richness.

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Removing every old tree would impoverish the character of the village.
Cutting all the examples would impoverish the lesson.

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Removing every old tree would ________ the character of the village.

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impoverish — To reduce the quality or richness of something.

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To reduce the quality or richness of something.

Compare: Removing every old tree would impoverish the character of the village.

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Word origin

From Old French empoverir, related to povre, meaning poor.

Did you know?

Impoverish also has a literal meaning: to make someone financially poor.

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