decimate

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.

(DES-i-mayt)

verb tr.
1. To destroy a large number of (a group). 2. To kill every tenth person. [From Latin decimatus, past participle of decimare, from decimus (tenth), from decem (ten). Decimation -- killing one out of every ten soldiers -- was the favorite method of punishing mutinous legions in the ancient Roman army. Today the word has evolved to mean large-scale damage where a major proportion is annihilated.

Usage
"Workers are collecting the few scraps of uniforms -- in one case, a nearly complete military hat -- to be analyzed for parasites. DNA analysis may help resolve whether a strain of typhus borne by lice helped decimate the troops." — Michael Wines, Baltic Soil Yields Evidence of a Bitter End to Napoleon's Army, The New York Times, Sep 14, 2002.

"Winter grain crops across the state have been decimated by the conditions, with little relief expected and hopes now pinned on summer crops." — Mark Scala, Never Rains But it Sprinkles - Light Showers Can't Break Drought's Grip, The Daily Telegraph (Sydney, Australia), Sep 7, 2002.

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verb

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

Note: click on a word meaning below to see its connections and related words.

The verb has 2 meanings:

Meaning #1: kill one in every ten of, as of mutineers in Roman armies

Meaning #2: kill in large numbers
  Synonyms: eliminate, annihilate, extinguish, eradicate, wipe out, carry off

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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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