Unforest

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

1. To clear an area of its trees or return land that was once designated as forest to ordinary, non-forest status
2. Stripping woodland from a tract of ground so that it is no longer covered by trees or governed as a royal forest
3. Converting wooded land into open ground by removing its trees and ending its designation as protected forest

Etymology: "Unforest" is a verb meaning to clear trees away from land that was once forest. It is built from the prefix "un-", which in verbs means to reverse or remove something, attached to "forest". So the word describes the reversal of forestation: taking a wooded tract and turning it back into open ground. The base word "forest" came into English from Old French "forest", which in turn traces to medieval Latin "forestis", a term for an unfenced area reserved for royal hunting. The word therefore began as a legal and territorial idea rather than a description of trees, and it kept that sense of a protected, enclosed hunting ground for centuries. Adding "un-" to it produces a verb that reverses that land use, turning a reserved woodland back into cleared ground.

Synonyms: disafforest

Antonyms: afforest