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Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary dec·i·mate (-mat·ed ; -mat·ing) ETYMOLOGY Latin decimatus, past participle of decimare, from decimus tenth, from decem ten DATE 1660 1. to select by lot and kill every tenth man of 2. to exact a tax of 10 percent from poor as a decimated Cavalier — John Dryden 3. a. to reduce drastically especially in number cholera decimated the population b. to cause great destruction or harm to firebombs decimated the city an industry decimated by recession English Etymology decimate c.1600, in reference to the practice of punishing mutinous military units by capital execution of one in every 10, by lot; from L.decimare "to take the tenth," from decimus "tenth" (see decimation). It has been used (incorrectly, to the irritation of pedants) since 1660s for "destroy a large portion of." Related: Decimated (c.1600); decimating (1660s). Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary-牛津双解-OALD7 decimate deci·mate / 5desimeit / verb[VN] 1. [usually passive] to kill large numbers of animals, plants or people in a particular area 大量毁灭,大批杀死(某地区的动物、植物或人): The rabbit population was decimated by the disease. 这种疾病使大批兔子死亡。 2. (informal) to severely damage sth or make sth weaker 严重破坏；大大削弱: Cheap imports decimated the British cycle industry. 廉价进口严重削弱了英国的自行车工业。 • deci·ma·tion / 7desi5meiFn / noun [U] OLT decimate verb ⇨ destroy Webster's Third New International Dictionary, Unabridged dec·i·mate \ˈdesəˌmāt, usu -ād.+V\ transitive verb (-ed/-ing/-s) Etymology: Latin decimatus, past participle of decimare, from decimus tenth, from decem ten — more at ten 1. : to select by lot and kill every tenth man of < decimate a regiment > 2. a. : to take a tenth from : tax to the amount of one-tenth b. (1) : to take a tenth part of (ore) by means of a sampling device (2) : to take every tenth one of < decimate carloads > 3. : to destroy a considerable part of : reduce to the point of almost complete extermination < war, which … nearly decimated the Seminoles — R.F.Warner > : decrease greatly < inflation has decimated … buying power — New Republic > 4. : to rearrange (an alphabet or text) into another sequence by taking every nth item until all are taken (as, if n is 3 ABCDEFG becomes ADGCFBE if the counting applies to the complete original sequence but ADGECFB if the letters previously taken out are skipped in counting) |
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