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
Melina Khan, USA Today, 16 May 2025
Uncertainty from President Donald Trump's tariff policies decimated the stock market's performance to start the year.
—Lisa Kailai Han, CNBC, 15 May 2025
The negotiations involved Indigenous tribes, which had no say in the initial treaty even as their fishing grounds and towns were decimated by dams.
—Karen Weise, New York Times, 13 May 2025
Within a decade, Craigslist had decimated the industry’s classified-ad revenues.
—Clare Malone, New Yorker, 12 May 2025
See All Example Sentences for decimate
Cite this Entry
“Decimate.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/decimate. Accessed 19 May. 2025.
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decimate
verb
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