decimation

Meaning

1. (Ancient-Rome, countable, uncountable) The killing or punishment of every tenth person, usually by lot.
2. (countable, uncountable) The killing or destruction of any large portion of a population.
3. (countable, uncountable) A tithe or the act of tithing.
4. (countable, uncountable) The creation of a new sequence comprising only every nth element of a source sequence.
5. (countable, uncountable) The creation of a new sequence comprising only every nth element of a source sequence.

Synonyms

desolation

destruction

devastation

dispersion

genocide

holocaust

ruin

thinning

thinning-out

Translations

decimazione

décimation

Dezimierung

estrago

αποδεκάτισμα

delmació

élagage des données

élimination sélective de données

allégement des données

slachting

eliminación selectiva de datos

örnek seyreltme

القتل

onda birini öldürme

Pronounced as (IPA)

/ˌdɛsɪˈmeɪʃən/

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin decimātiō, a punishment where every 10th man in a unit would be stoned to death by the men who were spared. Used by the Romans to keep order in their military. Compare septimation and vicesimation.