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- Dictionarydecimate/ˈdɛsɪmeɪt/
verb
- 1. kill, destroy, or remove a large proportion of: "the inhabitants of the country had been decimated"
- 2. kill one in every ten of (a group of people, originally a mutinous Roman legion) as a punishment for the whole group: historical "the man who is to determine whether it be necessary to decimate a large body of mutineers"
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DECIMATE definition: 1. to kill a large number of something, or to reduce something severely: 2. to kill a large number…. Learn more.
1. : to select by lot and kill every tenth man of. decimate a regiment. 2. : to exact a tax of 10 percent from. poor as a decimated Cavalier John Dryden. 3. a. : to reduce drastically especially in number. cholera decimated the population. Kamieniecki's return comes at a crucial time for a pitching staff that has been decimated by injuries.
Decimate definition: to kill or destroy a great number or proportion of. See examples of DECIMATE used in a sentence.
If something is drastically reduced or killed, especially in number, you can say it was decimated. "The oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico decimated the wildlife along the coast." The verb decimate originally referred to a form of capital punishment for Roman troops.
Definition of decimate verb in Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary. Meaning, pronunciation, picture, example sentences, grammar, usage notes, synonyms and more.
DECIMATE meaning: 1. to kill a large number of something, or to reduce something severely: 2. to kill a large number…. Learn more.
To decimate something such as a group of people or animals means to destroy a very large number of them. The pollution could decimate the river's thriving population of kingfishers. American English : decimate / ˈdɛsɪmeɪt /
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]
DECIMATE definition: to destroy large numbers of people or things: . Learn more.
Decimate definition: To destroy or kill a large part of (a group of people or organisms).
