decimate

IPA/ˈdesɪmeɪt/
KK[dˈɛsəmˌet]IPA/ˈdesɪmeɪt/

decimate — verb

  • decimatepresent simple I / you / we / they
  • decimateshe / she / it
  • decimatedpast simple
  • decimating-ing form

1. to wipe out many living things, or to leave a group, business, or system much sm

1.verbtransitiveC2
Definition

to wipe out many living things, or to leave a group, business, or system much smaller and weaker than before.

Example

A wildfire decimated hundreds of pine trees on the hillside.

decimate + large group of living things

Cheap imports decimated the town's small shoe factories within two years.

severely reduce a local industry

Common collocations
  • decimate a population
  • decimate a workforce
  • decimate a forest
  • decimate an industry
Synonyms
  • devastate

    stresses severe destruction or ruin, often with a broader emotional or physical effect

  • ravage

    often used when war, fire, or disease spreads through an area and causes widespread damage

  • wipe out

    more direct and often closer to complete destruction or removal

Antonyms
  • rebuild

    focuses on restoring something after severe damage

  • strengthen

    means making a group or system more solid instead of badly reducing it

Grammar Patterns

decimate + population / forest / workforce

be decimated by + disease / war / cuts

Usage Note

Often used for disease, war, natural disasters, or sharp economic damage affecting large groups. It is much stronger than reduce and usually suggests a sudden, serious loss.

Common Mistakes

We decimated our homework list by doing two easy tasks.
We reduced our homework list by doing two easy tasks.
decimate is used for very large or damaging reductions, not small everyday changes.

Word family

  • decimation
    nounC2

Synonym discussion

Sense: verb/1

Decimate is stronger than reduce and more specific than destroy. Reduce can describe ordinary planned change, such as reducing waste or reducing speed, with no sense of disaster. Decimate suggests that fire, disease, war, or financial pressure has cut deeply into a population, workforce, or system and left serious loss behind. Devastate also signals severe harm, but it often focuses on ruin in a place or on the emotional shock caused by the event. Ravage is common when damage spreads across an area over time. Wipe out is more direct and often suggests complete removal. A school can reduce costs, but repeated cuts may decimate its arts program.

decimate ↗devastate ↗ravage ↗wipe out ↗reduce ↗

Common collocations

Nouns

Adverbs

Phrases

  • be decimated by disease
  • decimate local businesses

Prepositions

Etymology

LatinEnglish

Decimate comes from the Latin verb decimare, which originally referred to taking or punishing one in every ten. In English, the word later moved away from that exact historical number and came to mean destroying a large part of a group or leaving it greatly reduced.