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Definitions

decimate

[des-uh-meyt] / ˈdɛs əˌmeɪt /


Example Sentences

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Opponents warn the proposal would decimate funding for essential services and reduce local government fiscal autonomy.

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

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

From Washington Times Sep. 15, 2023

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

They also procured, with much difficulty and at a high price, a quantity of lemons, for preventing or curing the scurvy, that terrible disease which decimates crews in the icy regions.

From A Winter Amid the Ice and Other Thrilling Stories by Jules Verne

While Premier League teams see their squads decimated by international call-ups, it is not quite as dramatic in the Championship.

From BBC Sep. 21, 2026

It’s based on Peter Heller’s 2012 novel and set in Colorado 10 years in the future after an aggressive flu has decimated much of the population.

From Los Angeles Times Aug. 26, 2026

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

From Science Daily Aug. 24, 2026

The population flight decimated Gary’s commercial core, leaving a phalanx of abandoned stores and banks along Broadway and thousands of vacant houses around town.

From The Wall Street Journal Aug. 4, 2026

As predicted, it swooped through the decimated doorway without knocking so much as a sliver of stone from the medieval walls.

From "Artemis Fowl" by Eoin Colfer

Dissent got louder after the twin quakes that struck northern Venezuela on June 24, killing over 6,000 people and decimating hundreds of buildings.

From Barron's Aug. 5, 2026

But that goal isn’t served by decimating one company and hobbling the other.

From The Wall Street Journal Jul. 28, 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 Mar. 3, 2026

Hurricane Melissa has continued its devastating sweep across the Caribbean, decimating homes and infrastructure, flooding neighbourhoods and leaving dozens dead.

From BBC Oct. 29, 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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