desertificazione
desertification
noun deh-zehr-tee-fee-kah-TSYOH-neh Rare
Origin: from deserto (desert) + -ficazione (Latin -ficatio, 'making into')
Usage Note
Desertificazione is the technical and journalistic term for the process by which fertile land becomes desert, used extensively in environmental and climate-change discourse. It is always feminine. The verb form is desertificare.
Examples
"La desertificazione minaccia le regioni del Sud."
Natural Translation
Desertification threatens the regions of the South.
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