decimation
decimation Lexical Profile
decimation Game Scores & Validity
• noun
The state of being destroyed or reduced by a large proportion; severe, widespread destruction or devastation.
"Conservationists warned that rising ocean temperatures could lead to the decimation of fragile coral reef ecosystems."
An ancient Roman military punishment in which one-tenth of a group of soldiers guilty of mutiny or cowardice were selected by lot and executed.
"The history professor explained how the Roman practice of decimation was used to enforce strict discipline within the legions."
In digital signal processing, the process of reducing the sampling rate of a signal by removing samples at regular intervals.
"The audio engineer applied decimation to lower the sample rate of the recording before compressing the file."
Word Nuance & Usage
While traditionalists sometimes insist that "decimation" should only mean reducing something by exactly one-tenth, in modern standard English it universally denotes severe, widespread destruction or the loss of a large proportion of a population.
• Rhymes for decimation
Word Origin & Etymology
Borrowed from Latin decimatio, from decimare ("to take or punish every tenth"), derived from decimus ("tenth") and decem ("ten"), referring to the ancient Roman military punishment of executing every tenth soldier in a mutinous legion.