Related Searches
Nearby Words
əˌmeɪtverb (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; < Latin decimātus, past participle of decimāre to punish every tenth man chosen by lot, verbal derivative of decimus tenth, derivative of decem ten; see -ate1
1590–1600; < Latin decimātus, past participle of decimāre to punish every tenth man chosen by lot, verbal derivative of decimus tenth, derivative of decem ten; see -ate1
Related forms
dec·i·ma·tion, noun
dec·i·ma·tor, noun
Can be confused: decimal, decimate, destroy (see usage note at the current entry; see synonym note at destroy).
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. 2012.
Cite This Source
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2012.
Cite This Source
|
Link To decimation
:10
:09
:08
:07
:06
:05
:04
:03
:02
:01
Decimation
is always a great word to know.
So is zedonk. Does it mean:
| a scrap or morsel of food left at a meal. |
| the offspring of a zebra and a donkey. |
Collins
World English Dictionary
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
Cite This Source
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
Cite This Source
Etymonline
Word Origin & History
decimation
1540s, from L.L. decimationem, from L. decimare "the removal or destruction of one-tenth," from decem "ten" (see ten). Killing one in ten, chosen by lots, from a rebellious city or a mutinous army was a common punishment in classical times. Earliest sense in English was of a tithe.
EXPANDdecimate
c.1600, in reference to the practice of punishing mutinous military units by capital execution of one in every 10, by lot; from L. decimare "to take the tenth," from decimus "tenth" (see decimation). It has been used (incorrectly, to the irritation of pedants) since 1660s
for "destroy a large portion of." Related: Decimated (c.1600); decimating (1660s).
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
Cite This Source
Cite This Source
Dictionary.com, LLC. Copyright © 2012. All rights reserved.