decimate
verb (used with object)
to kill or destroy a great number or proportion of.
had decimated
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past perfectof decimate.past perfect
Used to express a completed action that took place before another specific past action occurred.
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.
Shoppers could hardly find eggs in stores early last year, a period when producers said avian flu had decimated the hen population.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 30, 2026
Phillips, former host of ITV breakfast show GMTV, said dementia had "decimated" her family after her mother, father and uncle also had the disease.
From BBC ● Jul. 4, 2023
By January 1804, through successful guerrilla tactics, Black revolutionaries had decimated the French army, already suffering an outbreak of yellow fever, to create the Haitian nation.
From Textbooks ● Dec. 14, 2022
Pulp mills stopped dumping “black liquor,” a paper byproduct, into the water and Environment Canada began testing for waterborne carcinogens, like dioxins and furans, that had decimated fisheries.
From Seattle Times ● Nov. 3, 2022
From my spot, I surveyed the scenery and noticed few signs of the war that had decimated our lives.
From "The Boy on the Wooden Box" by Leon Leyson
