Word: decimate Part of Speech: verb Etymology: 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”). Pronunciation: /ˈdɛsɪmeɪt/, /ˈdɛsəmeɪt/ 1. To kill one-tenth of (a group), (historical, specifically) as a military punishment in the Roman army selected by lot, usually carried out by the surviving soldiers. Labels: archaic Example: God sometimes decimates or tithes delinquent persons, and they died for a common crime, according as God hath cast their lot in the decrees of predestination. Example: Said to have been martyred as a Christian legionary commander of late Roman times for having refused an imperial order to kill one in ten (that is, decimate in the Roman meaning of the word) of the soldiers of another legion which had gone into revolt... 2. To destroy or remove one-tenth of (something). Example: ...there will be eight hundred and ten laborers producing as nine hundred, while, to accomplish their purpose, they would have to produce as one thousand... Here, then, we have a society which is continually decimating itself... 3. To devastate: to reduce or destroy significantly but not completely. Labels: broadly Example: [England] had decimated itself for a question which involved no principle, and led to no result. Example: Um, some sort of power overload. I'm afraid it decimated your breakfast. 4. To exact a tithe or other 10% tax. Labels: obsolete Example: You forge theſe things prettily; but I have heard you are as poor as a decimated Cavalier [referring to Cromwell's ten per cent. income-tax on Cavaliers], and had not one foot of land in all the vvorld. Example: In addition, an ordinance was published that “all who had ever borne arms for the king, or declared themselves to be of the royal party, should be decimated, that is, pay a tenth part of all the estate which they had left, to support the charge which the commonwealth was put to... 5. To tithe: to pay a 10% tax. Labels: obsolete, rare Example: [I]t is a deed of higheſt charitie to help undeceive the people, and a vvork vvorthieſt your autoritie, in all things els authors, aſſertors and novv recoverers of our libertie, to deliver us, the only people of all Proteſtants left ſtill undeliverd, from the oppreſſions of a Simonious decimating clergie; […] 6. To divide into tenths; to decimalize. Labels: obsolete Example: For example, in multiplying 3 by 0.2, the 3 units have to be decimated—that is, divided into 10 equal parts, obtaining 3 “deci-units” for each part, and then 2 such parts taken, giving as the answer 6 deci-units, or 0.6. 7. To reduce to one-tenth: to destroy or remove nine-tenths of (something). Labels: proscribed Example: In this dramatic picture, the nation is literally decimated, and even the tenth which remains is subjected to a further destruction. Example: African slaves were needed to replace Native American populations that had been decimated (literally reduced to one-tenth their size) by European conquest. 8. To replace (a high-resolution model) with another of lower but acceptable quality. (Usually algorithmically) Example: A decimate tool allows us to obtain a more coarse-grained view of the data over the full n-dimensional space. Example: However, many times it is more practical to decimate existing high-res models because of time, money or manpower issues.