decimation
pronunciation
How to pronounce decimation in British English:
UK [ˌdesɪ'meɪʃn]
How to pronounce decimation in American English:
US [ˌdɛsəˈmeʃən]
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- Noun:
- destroying or killing a large part of the population (literally every tenth person as chosen by lot)
Word Origin
- decimation (n.)
- mid-15c., from Late Latin decimationem (nominative decimatio), noun of action from past participle stem of Latin decimare "the removal or destruction of one-tenth," from decem "ten" (see ten). Earliest sense in English was of a tithe; punishment sense is from 1580s; transferred sense of "much destruction, severe loss" recorded from 1680s.
Example
- 1. This decimation of middle-skilled work explains another unsettling trend in american business .
- 2. The islands have seen the disappearance of the hawaiian kingdom , the decimation of its people and language .
- 3. In the case of the ivory-billed woodpecker , the wood needed to create our human niches led to the decimation of the southern old-growth forests that the red-capped bird needed to survive .
- 4. Whether in the us , europe or any other country , the same union bureaucrats who have presided over the decimation of manufacturing industry over the past three decades now insist on the further sacrifice of wages and conditions as part of the protectionist packages to defend american or european companies .
- 5. For my fellow professionals at the coalface , it 's now clear that this white paper together with cuts to school budgets and the decimation of university funding will very seriously undermine the standards of teaching in our classrooms .