“The plague decimated the population, killing exactly one tenth of everyone.”
Semantic shift Entry 129 / 1011 60-second read
Decimate (Semantic Shift)
Originally meant 'kill one in ten' — now means 'destroy a large part' without specific ratio.
The comparisoni
“The plague decimated the population, killing most of the people.”
More examplesii
01
The general decimated the army by executing ten soldiers.
The general decimated the army by executing every tenth soldier (Roman punishment).
02
The hurricane decimated the town, destroying about 10% of structures.
The hurricane decimated the town, destroying most of the structures.
03
The pesticide decimated exactly one tenth of the insect population.
The pesticide decimated the insect population, killing the vast majority.
The ruleiii
¶
SEMANTIC BROADENING: Decimate broadened from a precise legal term (one tenth) to a general hype…
Decimate comes from Roman military punishment: every tenth soldier was executed. Modern usage has lost the one-tenth precision and just means major destruction.
Memory aidiv
Remember it like this
Decimate's deci- (ten) is now just for drama. Nobody counts anymore — it just means 'destroyed big time.'