What does depluming mean?
Depluming is the present participle of deplume, meaning to strip feathers from a bird or other feathered animal. In its literal sense, it describes an action rather than a tool or the removed feathers themselves. The word is uncommon and often appears in literal descriptions of birds and poultry, as well as in formal or literary prose. Figuratively, depluming means stripping a person, organization, or possession of resources, status, or other attributes. The distinction from pluming is important: pluming adds or arranges feathers, whereas depluming removes them. Because the image is unusually vivid, depluming can suggest sudden, complete loss rather than gradual reduction. It is therefore especially effective in accounts of political or corporate stripping and in descriptions of handling birds. Its uncommonness also makes it memorable in careful writing, where a plain verb may be less evocative.
verbStripping feathers from a bird or other feathered animal; figuratively, stripping something or someone of possessions, resources, or attributes.
- The removal of feathers from a bird or other feathered animal.
- The figurative removal of possessions, resources, status, or other attributes.
"The falconer examined the trapped bird without depluming it."
"The worker was careful not to damage the bird while depluming it."
"The novel portrays the financier as systematically depluming his rivals of wealth and influence."
A single word captures the complete transformation from feathered bird to bare essentials: depluming.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Where does depluming come from?
Depluming derives from the English verb deplume, borrowed from French deplumer, “to strip of feathers.” English plume comes through Old French from Latin pluma, “feather.” Related words such as plumage and plumaceous belong to the same lexical family.
Related word forms
How depluming is actually used
Depluming is relatively uncommon. It occurs chiefly in literal descriptions of birds and poultry and in formal or literary figurative language. In the figurative sense, it suggests the removal of valuable or defining attributes.
Easily confused with depluming
Depluming means stripping feathers from a bird, whereas pluming means covering or ornamenting something with feathers.