decimate
[ des-uh-meyt ]
/ ˈdɛs əˌmeɪt /
verb (used with object), dec·i·mat·ed, dec·i·mat·ing.
to destroy a great number or proportion of: The population was decimated by a plague.
to select by lot and kill every tenth person of.
Obsolete.
to take a tenth of or from.
Origin of decimate
usage note for decimate
The earliest English sense of
decimate is “to select by lot and execute every tenth soldier of (a unit).” The extended sense “destroy a great number or proportion of” developed in the 19th century:
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, noun dec·i·ma·tor, nounWords nearby decimate
decimal place,
decimal point,
decimal system,
decimalize,
decimals,
decimate,
decimeter,
decimetre,
decimus,
decinormal,
decipher
Example sentences from the Web for decimate
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)
Derived forms of decimate
decimation, noun decimator, nounWord Origin for 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