decimate
decimate
[ˈdɛsɪmeɪt]
verb
[with obj.](常作 be decimated)
decimation
noun
decimator
noun
语源
[ˈdɛsɪmeɪt]
verb
[with obj.](常作 be decimated)
- kill, destroy, or remove a large proportion of
大批杀死；大量毁灭；多数清除
the inhabitants of the country had been decimated.
该国居民被大批杀害。
■drastically reduce the strength or effectiveness of (something)
大大削弱，使…严重失效
public transport has been decimated.
公共交通元气大伤。 - (historical)kill one in every ten of (a group of people), as a punishment for the whole group
(史)抽杀…十分之一的人（作为对整体的惩罚）
decimation
noun
decimator
noun
语源
- late Middle English: from Latin decimat- 'taken as a tenth', from the verb decimare, from decimus 'tenth'. In Middle English the term decimation denoted the levying of a tithe, and later the tax imposed by Cromwell on the Royalists (1655). The verb decimate originally alluded to the Roman punishment of executing one man in ten of a mutinous legion
- Historically, the meaning of the word decimate is ‘kill one in every ten of (a group of people)’. This sense has been more or less totally superseded by the later, more general sense ‘kill or destroy (a large proportion of)’, as in the virus has decimated the populationSome traditionalists argue that this and other later senses are incorrect, but it is clear that this is now part of standard English
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