decimate
Reduce to rubble
Decimate originally meant to kill one in ten—a Roman military punishment where soldiers drew lots and the unlucky tenth was executed by his comrades.
Modern usage has drifted far from that precision.
Now decimate means to destroy a large portion of something: The plague decimated the population.
Purists object to this loosening, but the "destroy heavily" sense dominates contemporary English.
Destroy thoroughly and completely
- obliterateDestroy all traces of
- annihilateDestroy completely, leaving nothing
- demolishDestroy completely
- ravageCause severe destruction
ruin · wreck · destroy · exterminate · eradicate · lay waste · wipe out · raze
Greatly reduce supply
- diminishTo make smaller
- slashAngled line or swipe
- gutDigestive tract, or instinct
- thinSmall in diameter
cull · reduce · shrink · lessen · curtail · pare down · cut down · whittle
devastate
Destroy thoroughly and completely
- obliterateDestroy all traces of
- annihilateDestroy completely, leaving nothing
- demolishDestroy completely
ravage · ruin · wreck · destroy · exterminate · eradicate · lay waste · wipe out · raze · shatter
deplete
Greatly reduce supply
thin · cull · reduce · shrink · lessen · curtail · pare down · cut down · whittle · erode
legion
Great number, or soldiers
battalion · regiment · forces · garrison · infantry · cavalry · Roman · punishment · tithe · execution
plague
Deadly epidemic disease
epidemic · blight · pestilence · scourge · disaster · calamity · outbreak · contagion · devastation · catastrophe
- Destroydestroy, annihilate, obliterate, demolish, devastate
- destruction verbsdestroy, demolish, wreck, ruin, smash
- grammar debatesirregardless, ain't, split infinitive, singular they, could of
- misused wordsliterally, irregardless, ironic, disinterested, nauseous
- mesh editingvertex, edge, face, polygon, extrude
- Deca- wordsdecathlon, decimeter, decaliter, decameter, decapod
- decimal pointFractional value separator
- decimal placesPositions after decimal point
- Dewey Decimal SystemLibrary cataloging by numbers
- decimal systemPositional notation using ten
- decimal numbersNumbers with fractional parts
- repeating decimalDecimal with endlessly cycling digits
decimal, decimated, decimation, decimals, decimating, decimates, decimalization, decimator, decimalisation