decimate
Plural: decimates
Verb
Verb Forms: decimated, decimating, decimates
- To destroy a large proportion of something.
- kill one in every ten, as of mutineers in Roman armies
- kill in large numbers
- To kill one-tenth of (a group), (historical, specifically) as a military punishment in the Roman army selected by lot, usually carried out by the surviving soldiers.
- To destroy or remove one-tenth of (something).
- To devastate: to reduce or destroy significantly but not completely.
- To exact a tithe or other 10% tax.
- To tithe: to pay a 10% tax.
- To divide into tenths; to decimalize.
- To reduce to one-tenth: to destroy or remove nine-tenths of (something).
- To replace (a high-resolution model) with another of lower but acceptable quality. (Usually algorithmically)
Noun
- A tithe or other 10% tax or payment.
- A tenth of something.
- A set of ten items.
Examples
- His opponent’s powerful play threatened to DECIMATE his lead in the Scrabble game.
Origin / Etymology
The verb is first attested in 1591, the noun in 1641; borrowed from Latin decimātus, perfect passive participle of decimō (“to kill one tenth; to tithe”) (see, from -ate (verb-forming suffix) and -ate (noun-forming suffix)), from decimus (“tenth”) + -ō (verb-forming suffix). As a noun, via Latin decimatus (“tithing area; tithing rights”).
Synonyms
annihilate, carry off, eliminate, eradicate, extinguish, wipe out, tithe
Scrabble Score: 13
decimate: valid Scrabble (US) TWL Worddecimate: valid Scrabble Word in Merriam-Webster MW Dictionary
decimate: valid Scrabble Word in International Collins CSW Dictionary