decimate
Meaning
To kill or destroy a large proportion of a group.
To drastically reduce the strength or effectiveness of something.
Structure
Usage
The outbreak of disease threatened to decimate the local rabbit population.
Budget cuts have decimated funding for the arts program.
The invading army sought to decimate the morale of its opponents.
Etymology
The word 'decimate' originates from the Latin decimare, meaning 'to take a tenth'. This term described a brutal disciplinary practice in the Roman army, where one in every ten soldiers in a mutinous or cowardly unit was executed by lot. The specific numerical sense of 'tenth' was central to the original meaning. Over centuries, the term's application broadened beyond its strict military and numerical origins. The focus shifted from the precise proportion to the severe, destructive outcome, leading to its modern meaning of devastating or drastically reducing something, often with the connotation of widespread destruction.
Analysis
decim: from Latin decimus (tenth), from decem (ten). ate: a verb-forming suffix from Latin -atus, indicating an action or process.