decimation
Americannoun
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the destruction of a great number or proportion of people, animals, or things.
There is growing evidence that pesticide use is contributing significantly to the decimation of bee populations.
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the act or practice of killing one-tenth of a population, as a punishment, to cull wild animals, or for other purposes.
The Roman Empire used decimation, executing 1 in 10 people—ordinary citizens, slaves, or soldiers—to quell mutinies, riots, and other uprisings.
Etymology
Origin of decimation
First recorded in 1450–1500, for an earlier sense; from Latin decimātiōn-, stem of decimātiō “a punishing of every tenth man”; see decimate ( def. ), -ion ( def. )
Explanation
Decimation is the near-total destruction of a group, like the decimation of the candy bars that your brother was selling for school. Sorry, little brother! Decimation implies that nearly all of a population has been destroyed or killed. You might be angry about the decimation of the rainforest in a region of South America or the decimation of the coral in a reef where you'd hoped to snorkel some day. This noun comes from a Late Latin root, decimationem, which means "removal of a tenth." In ancient Rome, decimation was a military punishment that involved killing one out of every ten soldiers.
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
“If we do a 99% decimation, that’s no good,” he said.
From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 27, 2026
Even with this decimation of environmental regulations, America’s largest cities are unlikely to regularly find themselves on the most-polluted lists.
From Slate • Feb. 12, 2026
“We’ve already seen major consequences from the decimation thus far,” Swain said.
From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 17, 2025
Hawaii's Native population also similarly faced cultural decimation and social and economic marginalization as Puerto Rico after the U.S. staged a coup in 1893 against the sovereign country and annexed Hawaii in 1898.
From Salon • Jan. 9, 2025
Thirdly, mass extinctions akin to the archetypal Australian decimation occurred again and again in the ensuing millennia—whenever people settled another part of the Outer World.
From "Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind" by Yuval Noah Harari
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
