decimate
verb · noun
Simple meaning
To devastate: to reduce or destroy significantly but not completely.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
dehsuhmaytSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
ˈdɛsəmeɪt
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
verb
loosely
To devastate: to reduce or destroy significantly but not completely.
proscribed
To reduce to one-tenth: to destroy or remove nine-tenths of (something).
noun
A tithe or other 10% tax or payment.
A tenth of something.
A set of ten items.
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- C2 · Proficient (estimated)
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: (loosely) To devastate: to reduce or destroy significantly but not completely.
Used this way, decimate is a reasonably familiar word with a clearly unfavourable pull. It suits considered writing and prepared speech.
- Emotional tone
- Negative
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Moderate
- How common
- Moderately common
- Connotation
- Serious and weighty
- Usage feel
- Formal and precise
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
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Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
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Similar Words, What’s the Difference?
Close in meaning, but not always interchangeable.
To reduce to nothing, to destroy, to eradicate.
To destroy completely.
To destroy (especially, a large number or complete set of people or things).
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What Does It Mean Here?
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.