“The hurricane completely decimated the entire town — nothing was left.”
Misused Entry 130 / 1011 60-second read
Decimate vs. Devastate
Decimate originally meant to destroy one in ten. It doesn't mean total destruction.
The comparisoni
“The hurricane devastated the entire town — nothing was left.”
More examplesii
01
The wildfire completely decimated every building in town.
The wildfire completely devastated every building in town.
02
Overfishing has decimated cod populations in the Atlantic.
Overfishing has decimated cod populations in the Atlantic. (Correct — heavy reduction, not total loss.)
03
We decimated the opposing team 50–0.
We demolished/crushed the opposing team 50–0.
04
She was decimated by the news.
She was devastated by the news.
05
The city was entirely decimated — not a building stood.
The city was entirely destroyed — not a building stood.
06
The recession decimated our revenue by 40%.
The recession decimated our revenue — a 40% drop is fitting for the word.
The ruleiii
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DECIMATE = to destroy a significant portion of something (originally 1 in 10).
Decimate sounds extreme and dramatic, so people reach for it when they mean 'totally destroyed'. But decimate implies partial loss, not total annihilation.
Memory aidiv
Remember it like this
DECImate — DEC like a DECimal. Tenth. It removes a tenth, not everything. DEVASTATE sounds like a vast, total wasting away.