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decimate

de·ci·mate

UK/ˈdɛsɪmeɪt/ US/ˈdɛsəmeɪt/ rare archaic obsolete rare

verb

1.

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

2.

kill in large numbers

  • “the plague wiped out an entire population”
Synonyms

Origin

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”).

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WordNet 2.1 (Princeton University). Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. WordNet 2.1 Copyright Princeton University. All rights reserved. Wiktionary content is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike Licence.