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decimate

[des-uh-mayt] / ˈdɛs əˌmeɪt /


Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

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Opponents say the sharp reduction or elimination of property taxes would decimate funding for key areas, including education, public safety and infrastructure.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 2, 2026

He also called concerns that AI will decimate jobs worldwide "complete nonsense".

From Barron's ● Jun. 1, 2026

Software stocks dropped on Friday after digital-payments company Block announced it is slashing more than 4,000 employees — further fueling fears that artificial intelligence could decimate employee head counts and hurt demand for software.

From MarketWatch ● Feb. 27, 2026

At worst, biomass projects can decimate forests and release their stored carbon into the atmosphere.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 30, 2025

To decimate once meant “to slaughter every tenth one,” although it’s rarely used literally these days.

From "Woe Is I" by Patricia T. O'Conner

Snaring decimates wildlife populations and has pushed many larger mammals to local or even global extinction.

From Science Daily ● Jun. 3, 2024

Read: Our correspondent in France recommends “Station Eleven,” about a traveling troupe performing Shakespeare after a pandemic decimates 99.9 percent of humanity.

From New York Times ● Feb. 1, 2024

Of the 10 current members, Colorado is the only school the Pac-12 can lose in the realignment game without triggering either mass panic or a rush to the door that decimates the league.

From Seattle Times ● Jul. 27, 2023

In “The Last of Us” episode, Bill and Frank meet four years after a mysterious mutant cordyceps outbreak decimates humanity — not necessarily the ideal time for a meet-cute.

From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 1, 2023

It at times decimates the reindeer herds in Lapland and the Polar regions, and is only too well known in the tropics and in temperate latitudes.

From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 2, Slice 2 "Anjar" to "Apollo" by Various

The next day St Johnstone, decimated by a flu bug in the team, arrived at Ibrox to take on Rangers.

From BBC ● Oct. 2, 2026

Almost 250 people died, while vineyards, orange groves and plots used to grow Albufera rice, an essential paella ingredient, were decimated.

From Barron's ● Sep. 26, 2026

Coen said the lessons he learned from McVay in 2022, when injuries decimated the Rams’ roster, were among the most valuable.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 8, 2026

This deadly strain of bird flu has already decimated wild bird and mammal populations worldwide.

From Science Daily ● Aug. 24, 2026

"Indeed! With my plague! Half of Europe was decimated by the Black Death, forcing society to evolve! If not for that, you would still be digging for roots, a serf forever bound to your master."

From "City of the Plague God" by Sarwat Chadda

Following a string of already tumultuous years, restaurants in Boyle Heights watch the skies for signs of hope during a weeklong warehouse fire that’s decimating business.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 24, 2026

Ukraine, whose conventional navy, like Iran’s, has been largely destroyed, has used naval drones to target Russian warships, decimating the Russian Black Sea Fleet.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 26, 2026

The rapper’s overhaul of the dwelling saw it reduced to little more than a concrete shell, decimating almost all of Ando’s original design—and leaving design lovers up in arms over its destruction.

From MarketWatch ● Dec. 11, 2025

The unique Bandon initiative in the country's south could provide a model for tackling Ireland's biggest environmental dilemma: how to cut emissions on farms without drastically shrinking herds or decimating rural communities.

From Barron's ● Nov. 11, 2025

Smallpox, measles, influenza, typhus, bubonic plague, and other infectious diseases endemic in Europe played a decisive role in European conquests, by decimating many peoples on other continents.

From "Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies" by Jared M. Diamond


Vocabulary lists containing decimate

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