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decimate

[des-uh-meyt] / 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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He also called concerns that AI will decimate jobs worldwide "complete nonsense".

From Barron's Jun. 1, 2026

Investors have also been piling into bond markets on fears that AI advances will decimate the job market, while hotter-than-expected producer prices have clouded hopes for Federal Reserve interest-rate cuts.

From MarketWatch Feb. 28, 2026

The departures could decimate an office already struggling to deal with the surge in immigration enforcement, said B. Todd Jones, a former U.S. attorney for Minnesota.

From The Wall Street Journal Jan. 13, 2026

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

From Los Angeles Times Sep. 30, 2025

Instinctively colluding in the conspiracy of their fiction, taking care not to decimate it with adult carelessness.

From "The God of Small Things" by Arundhati Roy

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

“We can eradicate this insidious disease that decimates communities and extinguishes lives far too soon.”

From Washington Times Sep. 15, 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

I am not aware that the ship-fever, which sometimes decimates the emigrants from Europe, has ever prevailed in these African traders.

From Captain Canot or, Twenty Years of an African Slaver by Mayer, Brantz

Dozens of crumbling buildings in Venezuela's decimated earthquake zone bear a spray-painted letter 'D' -- a sign that buries any hope of finding life beneath the rubble.

From Barron's Jul. 1, 2026

Over the next two quarters, real estate and banks were decimated.

From MarketWatch Jun. 2, 2026

A new species of "killer fungus" has been discovered in Britain that destroys an aggressively invasive plant, raising hopes that decimated native habitats could be restored.

From BBC May 30, 2026

It is Swatch’s latest attempt to drive sales of affordable watches, which have been decimated by smartwatches.

From The Wall Street Journal May 22, 2026

Only after the first Polynesian settlers had exterminated moas and decimated seal populations on New Zealand, and exterminated or decimated seabirds and land birds on other Polynesian islands, did they intensify their food production.

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

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




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