To denude means to strip something bare, removing whatever usually covers or protects it. When erosion denudes a hillside, it washes away all the topsoil and plants, leaving only bare rock exposed. When loggers denude a forest, they cut down all the trees, transforming a lush woodland into an empty, treeless landscape.

Scientists might describe how overgrazing denudes grasslands, turning them into deserts. A historian might write about how war denuded the countryside, destroying crops and vegetation that once thrived there.

You can denude physical things, like stripping bark from a tree, but the word also works metaphorically. A company that fires all its experienced workers has denuded itself of valuable knowledge. When something is denuded, it's been reduced to its most basic, unprotected state, usually suggesting loss or damage rather than helpful simplification.