decimate
verb (used with object)
to kill or destroy a great number or proportion of.
decimates
-
present tense formof decimate (3rd person singular).present tense
Used to describe things happening now or regularly.
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.
Snaring decimates wildlife populations and has pushed many larger mammals to local or even global extinction.
From Science Daily ● Jun. 3, 2024
A farm group has called on the Federal Trade Commission to launch a price-gouging probe into the country’s top egg producer as avian flu decimates the number of hens nationwide.
From Washington Times ● Jan. 24, 2023
The ebullient history — which also cites on-site food tents as a mind-blowing component of the fest’s appeal — becomes tearful when Hurricane Katrina decimates New Orleans in 2005.
From New York Times ● May 12, 2022
Coffee leaf rust is a fungus that decimates coffee plants, often leaving farmers with few choices: cut down their crop and replant, plant something else, or give up the farm.
From Seattle Times ● Nov. 2, 2021
They also procured, with much difficulty and at a high price, a quantity of lemons, for preventing or curing the scurvy, that terrible disease which decimates crews in the icy regions.
From A Winter Amid the Ice and Other Thrilling Stories by Jules Verne
