decimate

(dĕs'ə-māt')
tr.v., -mat·ed, -mat·ing, -mates.

1. To destroy or kill a large part of (a group).
2. Usage Problem.
   1. To inflict great destruction or damage on: The fawns decimated my rose bushes.
   2. To reduce markedly in amount: a profligate heir who decimated his trust fund.
3. To select by lot and kill one in every ten of.

[Latin decimāre, decimāt-, to punish every tenth person, from decimus, tenth, from decem, ten.]

decimation 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.

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has changed its meaning because the old one is no longer needed. Historically, decimate means 'to kill one person in ten', and had its origin in military punishments. As the need for this meaning diminished, a new one emerged, the now familiar one 'to kill or destroy a large number or proportion of (people or things)':

In killing Moss, they'd used sufficient ammunition to decimate a small army—R. Perry, 1979

The forest has largely gone, decimated by a forest industry that is just now assaulting the final remains—Dædalus, 1988

The populations of dolphins and porpoises in the Black Sea have been decimated—M. Donoghue et al., 1990.

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verb

To kill savagely and indiscriminately: annihilate, butcher, massacre, slaughter. See crimes, help/harm/harmless, make/unmake.

For a list of words related to decimate, see:

• Violent Actions - decimate: destroy a significant portion of, orig. every tenth person

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See words rhyming with "decimate."

  See crossword solutions for the clue Decimate.

Dansk (Danish)
v. tr. - decimere, tynde ud i, fjerne hver tiende af

Nederlands (Dutch)
decimeren, afslachten

Français (French)
v. tr. - décimer

Deutsch (German)
v. - dezimieren, drastisch verringern

Ελληνική (Greek)
v. - αποδεκατίζω, εξολοθρεύω

Italiano (Italian)
decimare

Português (Portuguese)
v. - dizimar

Русский (Russian)
уничтожать каждого десятого, уничтожить огромное количество

Español (Spanish)
v. tr. - diezmar

Svenska (Swedish)
v. - decimera, arkebusera var tionde

中文（简体）(Chinese (Simplified))
成批杀死, 大量毁灭

中文（繁體）(Chinese (Traditional))
v. tr. - 成批殺死, 大量毀滅

한국어 (Korean)
v. tr. - 많은 ~을 죽이다, ~의 10분의 을 죽이다

日本語 (Japanese)
v. - 多くを殺す

العربيه (Arabic)
‏(فعل) يقتل أو يحطم جز كبير من شئ, ينقص شئ بكثرة, يزيل عشر عدد‏

עברית (Hebrew)
v. tr. - ‮השמיד חלק ניכר מ-‬

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