decimate

enUK

decimate

to destroy a great number or proportion of: Cholera decimated the city’s population; to select by lot and kill every tenth person
Not to be confused with:destroy – demolish; ruin; annihilate; kill, slay; defeat completely: They will destroy the entire village.

dec·i·mate

D0073500 (dĕs′ə-māt′)tr.v. dec·i·mat·ed, dec·i·mat·ing, dec·i·mates 1. To destroy or kill a large part of (a group of people or organisms).2. Usage Problem a. To inflict great destruction or damage on: The storm decimated the region.b. 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 (a group of soldiers).

[Latin decimāre, decimāt-, to punish every tenth person, from decimus, tenth, from decem, ten; see dekm̥ 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 population. In our 2005 survey, 81 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. This is an increase from the 66 percent who accepted this sentence in our 1988 survey. However, the Panel is less accepting of usages that extend the meaning to include large-scale destruction other than killing, as in The supply of fresh produce was decimated by the nuclear accident at Chernobyl. Some 36 percent accepted this sentence in 2005, up from 26 percent in 1988, but still a decided minority.

decimate

(ˈdɛsɪˌmeɪt) vb (tr) 1. to destroy or kill a large proportion of: a plague decimated the population. 2. (Military) (esp in the ancient Roman army) to kill every tenth man of (a mutinous section)[C17: from Latin decimāre, from decimus tenth, from decem ten] ˌdeciˈmation n ˈdeciˌmator nUsage: One talks about the whole of something being decimated, not a part: disease decimated the population, not disease decimated most of the population

dec•i•mate

(ˈdɛs əˌmeɪt)

v.t. -mat•ed, -mat•ing. 1. to destroy a great proportion of: Cholera decimated the population. 2. (esp. in ancient Rome) to select by lot and kill every tenth person of. 3. to take a tenth of or from. [1590–1600; < Latin decimātus, past participle of decimāre to punish every tenth man chosen by lot, v. derivative of decimus tenth] dec`i•ma′tion, n. dec′i•ma`tor, n. usage: The extended sense of decimate, “to destroy a great number or proportion of,” developed in the 19th century. Because the etymological sense of one-tenth remains to some extent, decimate is not ordinarily used with figures: Drought has destroyed (not decimated) 80 percent of the herd.

decimate

Past participle: decimated
Gerund: decimating

Imperative
decimate
decimate

Present
I decimate
you decimate
he/she/it decimates
we decimate
you decimate
they decimate

Preterite
I decimated
you decimated
he/she/it decimated
we decimated
you decimated
they decimated

Present Continuous
I am decimating
you are decimating
he/she/it is decimating
we are decimating
you are decimating
they are decimating

Present Perfect
I have decimated
you have decimated
he/she/it has decimated
we have decimated
you have decimated
they have decimated

Past Continuous
I was decimating
you were decimating
he/she/it was decimating
we were decimating
you were decimating
they were decimating

Past Perfect
I had decimated
you had decimated
he/she/it had decimated
we had decimated
you had decimated
they had decimated

Future
I will decimate
you will decimate
he/she/it will decimate
we will decimate
you will decimate
they will decimate

Future Perfect
I will have decimated
you will have decimated
he/she/it will have decimated
we will have decimated
you will have decimated
they will have decimated

Future Continuous
I will be decimating
you will be decimating
he/she/it will be decimating
we will be decimating
you will be decimating
they will be decimating

Present Perfect Continuous
I have been decimating
you have been decimating
he/she/it has been decimating
we have been decimating
you have been decimating
they have been decimating

Future Perfect Continuous
I will have been decimating
you will have been decimating
he/she/it will have been decimating
we will have been decimating
you will have been decimating
they will have been decimating

Past Perfect Continuous
I had been decimating
you had been decimating
he/she/it had been decimating
we had been decimating
you had been decimating
they had been decimating

Conditional
I would decimate
you would decimate
he/she/it would decimate
we would decimate
you would decimate
they would decimate

Past Conditional
I would have decimated
you would have decimated
he/she/it would have decimated
we would have decimated
you would have decimated
they would have decimated

Thesaurus

Verb	1.	decimate - kill one in every ten, as of mutineers in Roman armiesannihilate, eradicate, wipe out, decimate, eliminate, carry off, extinguish - kill in large numbers; "the plague wiped out an entire population"kill - cause to die; put to death, usually intentionally or knowingly; "This man killed several people when he tried to rob a bank"; "The farmer killed a pig for the holidays"
	2.	decimate - kill in large numbers; "the plague wiped out an entire population"annihilate, eradicate, wipe out, carry off, eliminate, extinguishdecimate - kill one in every ten, as of mutineers in Roman armieskill - cause to die; put to death, usually intentionally or knowingly; "This man killed several people when he tried to rob a bank"; "The farmer killed a pig for the holidays"

decimate

verb1. destroy, devastate, wipe out, ravage, eradicate, annihilate, put paid to, lay waste, wreak havoc on Pollution could decimate the river's population of kingfishers.2. reduce, diminish, decrease, weaken, lessen, wind down, downsize The recession decimated the nation's manufacturing industry.Usage: This word, which comes from Latin, originally referred to the slaughtering of one in ten soldiers, a practice of the army of Ancient Rome. In current language, however, the meaning of the word has broadened and it is now used not only to describe the destruction of people and animals, but also of institutions: overseas visitors will stay away in droves, decimating the tourist industry. Synonyms such as destroy (for sense 1) and reduce (for sense 2) are appropriate alternatives but because decimate should be used with regards to effects on the whole of something, rather than a part, it does not work as a synonym for them.

decimate

verbTo kill savagely and indiscriminately:annihilate, butcher, massacre, slaughter.

Translations

大批杀死大量毁灭

decimate

(ˈdesimeit) verb (of disease, battle etc) to reduce greatly in number. The population was decimated by the plague. 大批杀死（或毁坏） ˌdeciˈmation noun 大批杀死，大量毁灭

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Synonyms for decimate

verb destroy

Synonyms

verb reduce

Synonyms

Synonyms for decimate

verb to kill savagely and indiscriminately

Synonyms

Synonyms for decimate

verb kill one in every ten, as of mutineers in Roman armies

Related Words

verb kill in large numbers

Synonyms

Related Words