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
Ransone appeared in all 12 episodes of the show’s second season, which focused on the decimation of the city’s docks.
From Los Angeles Times • Dec. 21, 2025
The 1921 racist massacre in Tulsa, Oklahoma, and the resulting decimation of the booming wealth center known as Black Wall Street, aren’t included in elementary and high school textbooks.
From Salon • Aug. 11, 2025
On this week’s Amicus, Dahlia Lithwick was joined by Protect Democracy’s Ian Bassin to try to reconcile our split-screen moment: democracy being seen to be done, and the looming decimation of democracy.
From Slate • Nov. 13, 2024
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.
