decimate

[ des-uh-meyt ]
See synonyms for: decimatedecimated on Thesaurus.com

verb (used with object),dec·i·mat·ed, dec·i·mat·ing.
  1. to kill or destroy a great number or proportion of: The population was decimated by a plague.

  2. to greatly reduce in number or amount: From 1975-1981, our country was not driving the space exploration agenda, and our aerospace workforce was decimated.

  1. to cause to suffer great loss or harm: The constant eruptions that spewed forth decimated the forest and turned it to ash.

  2. to select by lot and kill every tenth person of.

  3. Obsolete. to take a tenth of or from.

Origin of decimate

1
First recorded in 1590–1600; from Latin decimātus, past participle of decimāre “to punish every tenth man chosen by lot,” verbal derivative of decimus “tenth,” derivative of decem “ten”; see ten, -ate1

word story For decimate

The earliest English sense of decimate is “to select by lot and execute every tenth soldier of (a unit).” The extended senses “to destroy a great proportion of; greatly reduce or damage” have been criticized on etymological grounds, although these usages are common in standard English: Cholera decimated the urban population. Because the etymological sense of one-tenth remains to some extent, decimate is not ordinarily used with exact fractions or percentages: Drought has destroyed (not decimated ) nearly 80 percent of the cattle.

Other words from decimate

  • dec·i·ma·tion [des-uh-mey-shuhn], /ˌdɛs əˈmeɪ ʃən/, noun
  • dec·i·ma·tor, noun

Words that may be confused with decimate

  • decimate , destroy (see word story at the current entry)

Words Nearby decimate

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use decimate in a sentence

British Dictionary definitions for decimate

decimate

/ (ˈdɛsɪˌmeɪt) /


verb(tr)
  1. to destroy or kill a large proportion of: a plague decimated the population

  2. (esp in the ancient Roman army) to kill every tenth man of (a mutinous section)

Origin of decimate

1
C17: from Latin decimāre, from decimus tenth, from decem ten

usage For decimate

One talks about the whole of something being decimated, not a part: disease decimated the population, not disease decimated most of the population

Derived forms of decimate

  • decimation, noun
  • decimator, noun

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