decimate
Americanverb (used with object)
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to kill or destroy a great number or proportion of.
The population was decimated by a plague.
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to greatly reduce in number or amount.
From 1975-1981, our country was not driving the space exploration agenda, and our aerospace workforce was decimated.
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to cause to suffer great loss or harm.
The constant eruptions that spewed forth decimated the forest and turned it to ash.
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to select by lot and kill every tenth person of.
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Obsolete. to take a tenth of or from.
verb
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to destroy or kill a large proportion of
a plague decimated the population
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(esp in the ancient Roman army) to kill every tenth man of (a mutinous section)
Usage
One talks about the whole of something being decimated, not a part: disease decimated the population, not disease decimated most of the population
Other Word Forms
- decimation noun
- decimator noun
Etymology
Origin of decimate
First recorded in 1590–1600; from Latin decimātus, past participle of decimāre “to punish every tenth man chosen by lot,” verbal derivative of decimus “tenth,” derivative of decem “ten”; ten, -ate 1
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
An adaptation of the popular video game franchise, “Fallout” is set in an alternate future around 200 years after much of the world was decimated by nuclear bombs.
From Los Angeles Times
The departures could decimate an office already struggling to deal with the surge in immigration enforcement, said B. Todd Jones, a former U.S. attorney for Minnesota.
A flood of imports — farmed on a mass scale, lightly regulated by developing countries and thus cheaper to produce — has decimated the market for American shrimpers.
From Los Angeles Times
“No Other Choice” bluntly depicts a contemporary workforce decimated by AI and cost-cutting, but its view of alienated labor and thwarted masculinity has roots in indelible works such as “Parasite” and “Breaking Bad.”
From Los Angeles Times
"It was really troubling so we wanted to step in and offer support because school budgets have been decimated," he explained.
From BBC
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
