Link Centre Dictionary

decimation

de·ci·ma·tion

UK/ˌdɛsɪˈmeɪʃən/ US/ˈdɛsʌˌmeɪʃʌn/ uncommon

noun

1.

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

Origin

Borrowed from Latin decimātiō, a punishment where every 10th man in a unit would be stoned to death by the men who were spared. Used by the Romans to keep order in their military. Compare septimation and vicesimation.

Related words

Word family

Broader terms

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.