Showing results for "decimated"

• past tense form of decimate.
• past participle of decimate.

decimated

American  

[des-uh-mey-tid] / ˈdɛs əˌmeɪ tɪd /

adjective

1. greatly reduced in number or amount, or having suffered great loss or harm.

   The nonprofit agency has been struggling with a decimated staff and limited resources.

   After the massive earthquake, the only way to reach the decimated villages was by helicopter.

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verb

1. the simple past tense and past participle of decimate.

Etymology

Origin of decimated

decimate ( def. ) + -ed ² ( def. )

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

decimated

Boycotts of U.S. whiskey have decimated a key economic driver for the American South.

From Slate ● Jul. 21, 2026

With every passing hour, it becomes a little trickier to find food and water in the markets of La Guaira, which was decimated by Wednesday's quakes of magnitudes 7.2 and 7.5.

From Barron's ● Jul. 1, 2026

She says they learned about the police raids through a Facebook post, which showed their home had been "decimated".

From BBC ● Jun. 24, 2026

In the 1970s, cheap foreign travel decimated its tourism industry.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 22, 2026

Were our ranks not swelled every day by men crawling through the reeds, families arrived in boats, and victorious runaways bleeding in their shirts, we had been decimated.

From "The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation, Volume II: The Kingdom on the Waves" by M.T. Anderson

Related Words

• annihilate
• exterminate
• obliterate
• slaughter
• wipe out