Dictionary

decimation en · NOUN

Pronunciation

• (Southern-England) audio
• /ˌdɛsɪˈmeɪʃən/ (General-American, UK)

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin decimātiō, a punishment where every 10th man in a unit would be stoned to death by the men who were spared. Used by the Romans to keep order in their military. Compare septimation and vicesimation.

Meanings

1. (Ancient-Rome, countable, qualifier:strictly, uncountable) The killing or punishment of every tenth person, usually by lot.
   • By decimation and a tythed death; / If thy Reuenges hunger for that Food, / Which Nature loathes, take thou the deſtin'd tenth, […] c. 1605–1608 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Life of Tymon of Athens”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act V, scene v], page 98, column 1:
2. (countable, qualifier:generally, uncountable) The killing or destruction of any large portion of a population.
   • And the vvhole Army had cauſe to enquire into their own Rebellions, vvhen they ſavv the Lord of Hoſts, vvith a dreadful Decimation, taking off ſo many of our Brethren by the vvorſt of Executioners. 1702, Cotton Mather, “Book V (Acts and Monuments. […])”, in Magnalia Christi Americana: Or, the Ecclesiastical History of New-England, from Its First Planting in the Year 1620. unto the Year of Our Lord, 1698. […], London: […] Thomas Parkhurst, […], →OCLC, 4th part (The Reforming Synod of New-England, […]), § 1, page 86, column 1:
   • General Secretary Mick Lynch said: "It is crystal clear that the planned cutbacks on ScotRail and SWR are just the tip of the iceberg, as cynical employers use the cloak of COVID-19 to smuggle through the decimation of jobs and services on Britain's railways. 2021 September 8, “RMT on "war footing" in response to workforce cutback threats”, in RAIL, number 939, page 15:
3. (countable, uncountable) A tithe or the act of tithing.
4. (countable, uncountable) The creation of a new sequence comprising only every nth element of a source sequence.
5. (countable, uncountable) The creation of a new sequence comprising only every nth element of a source sequence. ▸ A digital signal-processing technique for reducing the number of samples in a discrete-time signal; downsampling

Forms

Coordinates

5) (proportionate reduction, by single aliquot part) · 20) (proportionate reduction, by single aliquot part) · vicesimation (1 (proportionate reduction, by single aliquot part) · tricesimation (1 (proportionate reduction, by single aliquot part) · septimation (1 (proportionate reduction, by single aliquot part) · 100) (proportionate reduction, by single aliquot part) · quintation (1 (proportionate reduction, by single aliquot part) · centesimation (1 (proportionate reduction, by single aliquot part) · 7) (proportionate reduction, by single aliquot part) · 30) (proportionate reduction, by single aliquot part)

Relateds

decimate

Synonyms

tithing

Translations (12)

fi desimointi (creation of a new sequence comprising every nth element of the original) · es decimación (killing or destruction of a large portion of a population) · sv decimering (selection of every tenth person for death or other punishment) · cmn 十一抽殺 /十一抽杀 (selection of every tenth person for death or other punishment) · fi desimointi (digital signal-processing technique) · fi joukkosurma (killing or destruction of a large portion of a population) · fi joukkotuho (killing or destruction of a large portion of a population) · fi desimaatio (selection of every tenth person for death or other punishment) · ru децимация (selection of every tenth person for death or other punishment) · es diezmado (killing or destruction of a large portion of a population) · el αποδεκάτισμα (selection of every tenth person for death or other punishment) · mk десеткување (selection of every tenth person for death or other punishment)