decimate
verb
John DrydenJason Diamos
Did you know?
Decimate is a word that often raises hackles, at least those belonging to a small but committed group of logophiles who feel that it is commonly misused. The issue that they have with the decline and fall of the word decimate is that once upon a time in ancient Rome it had a very singular meaning: “to select by lot and kill every tenth man of a military unit.” However, many words in English descended from Latin have changed and/or expanded their meanings in their travels. For example, we no longer think of sinister as meaning “on the left side,” and delicious can describe things both tasty and delightful. Was the “to kill every tenth man” meaning the original use of decimate in English? Yes, but not by much. It took only a few decades for decimate to acquire its broader, familiar meaning of “to severely damage or destroy,” which has been employed steadily since the 17th century.
Examples of decimate in a Sentence
Jennifer McDermott, Fortune, 21 Dec. 2025
This will decimate several sports, and schools in the district may not even be able to field teams.
—Jackson Thompson, FOXNews.com, 19 Dec. 2025
Their tribe decimated by volcanic eruptions, a cataclysm their goddess Eywa did nothing to alleviate, the ash people are aggrieved, aggressive and, unlike the tribes in Pandora's low-lying regions, willing to embrace technology.
—Bob Mondello, NPR, 18 Dec. 2025
With Hamas decimated, Lebanon’s Hezbollah largely decapitated, the regime of Bashar al-Assad in Syria toppled, and Shiite militias in Iraq avoiding conflict with Israel, the other members of Iran’s once powerful axis of resistance are severely weakened.
—April Longley Alley, Foreign Affairs, 18 Dec. 2025
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Cite this Entry
“Decimate.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/decimate. Accessed 25 Dec. 2025.
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decimate
verb
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