DECIMATE

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does decimate mean? 

• DECIMATE (verb)
  The verb DECIMATE has 2 senses:

1. kill one in every ten, as of mutineers in Roman armies

2. kill in large numbers

  Familiarity information: DECIMATE used as a verb is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• DECIMATE (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they decimate    ... he / she / it decimates   
Past simple: decimated   
Past participle: decimated   
-ing form: decimating   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Kill one in every ten, as of mutineers in Roman armies

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

Hypernyms (to "decimate" is one way to...):

kill (cause to die; put to death, usually intentionally or knowingly)

Verb group:

annihilate; carry off; decimate; eliminate; eradicate; extinguish; wipe out (kill in large numbers)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s somebody

Sense 2

Meaning:

Kill in large numbers

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

Synonyms:

annihilate; carry off; decimate; eliminate; eradicate; extinguish; wipe out

Context example:

the plague wiped out an entire population

Hypernyms (to "decimate" is one way to...):

kill (cause to die; put to death, usually intentionally or knowingly)

Verb group:

decimate (kill one in every ten, as of mutineers in Roman armies)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s somebody
Something ----s somebody

Derivation:

decimation (destroying or killing a large part of the population (literally every tenth person as chosen by lot))

 Context examples 

That keeps seagrasses — which grazers like dugongs and other marine animals eat — from being decimated.

(Sharks, the seagrass protectors, National Science Foundation)