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decimate - 3 dictionary results
dec⋅i⋅mate
[des-uh-meyt] 
–verb (used with object), -mat⋅ed, -mat⋅ing.
| 1. | to destroy a great number or proportion of: The population was decimated by a plague. |
| 2. | to select by lot and kill every tenth person of. |
| 3. | Obsolete. to take a tenth of or from. |
Origin:
1590–1600; < L decimātus, ptp. of decimāre to punish every tenth man chosen by lot, v. deriv. of decimus tenth, deriv. of decem ten; see ate1
1590–1600; < L decimātus, ptp. of decimāre to punish every tenth man chosen by lot, v. deriv. of decimus tenth, deriv. of decem ten; see ate1
Related forms:
dec⋅i⋅ma⋅tion, noun
dec⋅i⋅ma⋅tor, noun
Usage note:
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.
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.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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|
Link To decimate
| dec·i·mate (děs'ə-māt') tr.v. dec·i·mat·ed, dec·i·mat·ing, dec·i·mates
[Latin decimāre, decimāt-, to punish every tenth person, from decimus, tenth, from decem, ten; see dek  in Indo-European roots.]dec'i·ma'tion n. Usage Note: Decimate originally referred to the killing of every tenth person, a punishment used in the Roman army for mutinous legions. Today this meaning is commonly extended to include the killing of any large proportion of a group. Sixty-six percent of the Usage Panel accepts this extension in the sentence The Jewish population of Germany was decimated by the war, even though it is common knowledge that the number of Jews killed was much greater than a tenth of the original population. However, when the meaning is further extended to include large-scale destruction other than killing, as in The supply of fresh produce was decimated by the nuclear accident at Chernobyl, only 26 percent of the Panel accepts the usage. |
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
Cite This Source
Decimate
Dec"i*mate\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Decimated; p. pr. & vb. n. Decimating.] [L. decimatus, p. p. of decimare to decimate (in senses 1 & 2), fr. decimus tenth. See Decimal.]1. To take the tenth part of; to tithe. --Johnson. 2. To select by lot and punish with death every tenth man of; as, to decimate a regiment as a punishment for mutiny. --Macaulay. 3. To destroy a considerable part of; as, to decimate an army in battle; to decimate a people by disease.
Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.
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Language Translation for : decimate
Spanish:
diezmar,
German:
dezimieren,
Japanese:
多数を殺す
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