decimate

[ des-uh-meyt ]

See synonyms for decimate on Thesaurus.com

verb (used with object),dec·i·mat·ed, dec·i·mat·ing.

to kill or destroy a great number or proportion of: The population was decimated by a plague.
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.

to cause to suffer great loss or harm: The constant eruptions that spewed forth decimated the forest and turned it to ash.
to select by lot and kill every tenth person of.
Obsolete. to take a tenth of or from.

Origin of decimate

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)

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use decimate in a sentence

Pre-combination therapies, AIDS was still exerting its decimating effect, with all the extra bigotry around that.
How Robin Williams’ Mrs. Doubtfire Won the Culture Wars | Tim Teeman | August 13, 2014 | THE DAILY BEAST
Assault rifles—rebranded “sporting rifles,” in case your sport might be decimating a small village in under a minute.
Preparing for War in Indianapolis: Inside the NRA Plot to Terrify America | Cliff Schecter | April 28, 2014 | THE DAILY BEAST
If decimating rainforests is good for individual survival and reproduction, then that is what is going to happen.
Rediscovering Richard Dawkins: An Interview | J.P. O’Malley | September 23, 2013 | THE DAILY BEAST
Of course they fail to recognize that excessive wingnuttery is decimating their societies.
Mississippi’s Governor Has Some Bad Ideas | Michelle Goldberg | June 7, 2013 | THE DAILY BEAST
Or actually, there is a way—decimating entitlement programs.
Big Boy Obama and the GOP Babies | Michael Tomasky | July 25, 2011 | THE DAILY BEAST

Destructive lumbering, usually followed by devastating forest fires, was fast decimating the virgin pine forests.
Our National Forests | Richard H. Douai Boerker
So as she worked and planted, unavoidably decimating a worm here and turning up an ants nest there, she conned it all over.
Bluebell | Mrs. George Croft Huddleston
They informed me that a malevolent Genius had been enraged with them for more than a year and was decimating the population.
Indo-China and Its Primitive People | Henry Baudesson
The procedure had dragged on for years, decimating the better class like a pestilence.
Nostromo: A Tale of the Seaboard | Joseph Conrad
Did the germs of some epidemic invade the country, decimating the population by disease and poverty?
The Argentine in the Twentieth Century | Albert B. Martinez

British Dictionary definitions for decimate

decimate

/ (ˈdɛsɪˌmeɪt) /

verb(tr)

to destroy or kill a large proportion of: a plague decimated the population
(esp in the ancient Roman army) to kill every tenth man of (a mutinous section)

Origin of decimate

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

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

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