impoverish
/icons/point.icon DEPLETE, DRAIN, EXHAUST, IMPOVERISH, BANKRUPT mean to deprive of something essential to existence or potency.
DEPLETE implies a reduction in number or quantity so as to endanger the ability to function.
e.g. depleting our natural resources
DRAIN implies a gradual withdrawal and ultimate deprivation of what is necessary to an existence.
e.g. personal tragedy had drained him of all spirit
EXHAUST stresses a complete emptying.
e.g. her lecture exhausted the subject
IMPOVERISH suggests a deprivation of something essential to richness or productiveness.
e.g. impoverished soil
BANKRUPT suggests impoverishment to the point of imminent collapse.
e.g. war had bankrupted the nation of resources
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verb with object
make (a person or area) poor:
…を貧乏にする(make poor)
e.g. they discourage investment and impoverish their people
e.g. (as adjective impoverished) : impoverished peasant farmers.
exhaust the strength, vitality, or natural fertility of:
〈資源･土地･資力など〉を貧弱にする, 衰えさせる, 疲弊させる (!しばしば受け身で)
e.g. the soil was impoverished by annual burning
impoverished｟報道｠ 非常に貧乏な; 粗末な; 貧弱な(↔ prosperous, affluent).
e.g. (as adjective impoverished) : an impoverished and debased language.
ORIGIN
late Middle English (formerly also as empoverish): from Old French empoveriss-, lengthened stem of empoverir, based on povre ‘poor’.