decimate
A tithe or other 10% tax or paymentA tithe or other 10% tax or payment.
» The soldiers decimated the unruly population.
CS · Tatoeba · CC BY 2.0 FRMeaning
3 senses(obsolete)A tithe or other 10% tax or payment.
(obsolete)A tenth of something.
(obsolete)A set of ten items.
Examples
17 sentencesThe soldiers decimated the unruly population.
Bruno learnt that humanity had been decimated.
The cavaliers were decimated by the artillery.
Our team will decimate yours on the field tomorrow.
The ray population exploded, and the scallop fisheries were decimated.
Origin
The verb is first attested in 1591, the noun in 1641; borrowed from Latin decimātus, perfeThe 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”).
Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0 · source
Dictionary text adapted from Wiktionary (Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0) and Open English WordNet / Princeton WordNet (CC BY 4.0, WordNet License); shared under CC BY-SA 4.0. Example sentences and recordings are credited where they appear.