Crossword clues for decimate
Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
The Collaborative International Dictionary
Decimate \Dec"i*mate\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Decimated; p. pr. & vb. n. Decimating.] [L. decimatus, p. p. of decimare to decimate (in senses 1 & 2), fr. decimus tenth. See Decimal.]
To take the tenth part of; to tithe.
--Johnson.To select by lot and punish with death every tenth man of; as, to decimate a regiment as a punishment for mutiny.
--Macaulay.To destroy a considerable part of; as, to decimate an army in battle; to decimate a people by disease.
Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
c.1600, in reference to the practice of punishing mutinous military units by capital execution of one in every 10, by lot; from Latin decimatus, past participle of decimare (see decimation). Killing one in ten, chosen by lots, from a rebellious city or a mutinous army was a common punishment in classical times. The word has been used (incorrectly, to the irritation of pedants) since 1660s for "destroy a large portion of." Related: Decimated; decimating.
Wiktionary
vb. 1 (qualifier: Roman history) To kill one man chosen by lot out of every ten in a legion or other military group. 2 To reduce anything by one in ten, or ten percent. 3 (context historical English) To exact a tithe or tax of 10 percent. 4 To reduce to one-tenth. 5 To severely reduce; to destroy almost completely. 6 (context computer graphics English) To replace a high-resolution model with one of lower resolution but acceptably similar appearance.
WordNet
v. kill one in every ten, as of mutineers in Roman armies
kill in large numbers; "the plague wiped out an entire population" [syn: eliminate, annihilate, extinguish, eradicate, wipe out, carry off]
Wikipedia
Decimate is a BBC quiz show that has aired on BBC One from 20 April 2015 and is hosted by Shane Richie.
Usage examples of "decimate".
Amerikan Peace Movement whose theory of justice was that the brutal Amerikan Army should move out of Southeast Asia so that the Cambodians could fertilize their fields with the bodies of Cambodians so that the Vietnamese could prey on the corpse of a decimated nation so that the Chinese could punish the Vietnamese so that the Vietnamese could drown their own Chinese in the sea.
Arabic expletives as his best Amn Al-Khans battalion was decimated by the ISET and the F-16s.
Decimated by the Revolution, the French church changed its complexion so much that the pope was forced to anathematise the entire Gallican hierarchy, refusing to consecrate any new bishops.
They are part of a sizable language group that includes the large Athabascan tribe of northern Canada, the Navajo, the Hoopa on the coast of northern California and the decimated group who lived near Grants Pass in southwestern Oregon.
Naya Gaon, situated in the heart of the forest, was one of the first villages in the Bhabar to be decimated by the disease.
It had only taken three days for Bonita Vista to break down and decimate his best and strongest line of defense.
By the time anyone did, the flames were sweeping through the Cuyahoga Valley, decimating the shipyards at the Great Lakes Towing Company, and leaping a full five stories into the air.
That overcrowding and climate can not be the sole factors is indicated by the fact that the Negro race has been decimated, wherever it has met tuberculosis.
To decimate the Lower Aliens, to demonstrate our fittingness to survive and blossom in greater and greater Twist Frees.
A pincer movement from the north and south, aimed at Kursk, could surround and decimate the cream of the Soviet forces.
The rest, decimated by dysentery and small-pox, began their march to Lake Champlain, with bands of Mohawk, Oneida, and Mohegan allies.
The Soviets and North Koreans had plundered the vast natural prawn beds and fisheries of the rich warm Mozambican current along the eastern coast, while foreign adventurers with Frefimo licenses and approval had decimated the crocodile population of Lake Cabora Bossa.
I would help her to the living room couch, her bones birdlike, her blood count so decimated that her white skin bloomed with bruises, a neutropenic garden.
They and the other mechanicals on Neverland are systematically decimating the delegates to the Conference.
Without enough food to feed all of their people, the harsh winter spent in the Khar foothills of northern Nuqut would surely decimate the Oirat tribes.