What is the real meaning of decimate?

I don’t like how people use the word decimate. It doesn’t mean to wipe things out. Words are precise tools, not blunt instruments. The first problem is that even if decimate did refer to the practice of killing one of every ten soldiers in Roman times, it did so in the service of Latin, not English.

What is the origin of the word decimation?

The word decimation is derived from Latin meaning “removal of a tenth”. The procedure was an attempt to balance the need to punish serious offences with the realities of managing a large group of offenders.

Why did decimate change meaning?

In ancient Rome, they say, cowardly soldiers were often punished thus. Your local pedant may go so far as to add that decem was the Latin word for 10, hence English decimal (relating to tenths) and decathlon (athletic contest with 10 events). The extended sense of decimate, they say, is a newfangled aberration.

What is the meaning of decimated as it is used in paragraph 11?

adjective. greatly reduced in number or amount, or having suffered great loss or harm:The nonprofit agency has been struggling with a decimated staff and limited resources.

What is another word for decimated?

destroy
In this page you can discover 23 synonyms, antonyms, idiomatic expressions, and related words for decimate, like: destroy, demolish, reduce, annihilate, kill, slaughter, wreck, butcher, massacre, crimes and help.

Who created decimation?

Case Studies in Cruelty. The historian Titus Livius Patavinus, also known simply as Livy, provides the earliest account of a decimation in the Roman army. The incident occurred in 5th Century BCE during the young city-state’s conquest of the Italian peninsula.

Who started decimation?

What is the best synonym for decimated?

synonyms for decimated

• annihilate.
• exterminate.
• obliterate.
• slaughter.
• wipe out.
• butcher.
• execute.
• massacre.

What is a synonym for decimated?

Synonyms. destroy. The building was completely destroyed. devastate.

What is another word for decimate?

What is the Bengali meaning of decimated?

annihilate, carry off, eliminate, eradicate, extinguish, wipe out.

What is the opposite of decimate?

Opposite of to completely destroy or devastate. build. construct. erect. raise.

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