Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English homepage

Date: 1500-1600
Language: Latin
Origin: decimatus, past participle of decimare 'to remove one tenth, kill one in ten', from decem 'ten'

decimate

 verb
     
dec‧i‧mate [transitive]
to destroy a large part of something:
The population has been decimated by disease.
—decimation noun [uncountable]
Definition from the Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
Advanced Learner's Dictionary.

Dictionary pictures of the day
Do you know what each of these is called?
What is the word for picture 1? What is the word for picture 2? What is the word for picture 3? What is the word for picture 4?
Click on any of the pictures above to find out what it is called.

Explore our topic dictionary

Browse the dictionary