Definition of "decimate" in English

verb

1. (archaic) To kill one-tenth of (a group), (historical, specifically) as a military punishment in the Roman army selected by lot, usually carried out by the surviving soldiers.

   • God sometimes decimates or tithes delinquent persons, and they died for a common crime, according as God hath cast their lot in the decrees of predestination.

2. To destroy or remove one-tenth of (something).

3. (loosely) To devastate: to reduce or destroy significantly but not completely.

   • Um, some sort of power overload. I'm afraid it decimated your breakfast.

4. (obsolete) To exact a tithe or other 10% tax.

5. (obsolete, rare) To tithe: to pay a 10% tax.

6. (obsolete) To divide into tenths; to decimalize.

7. (proscribed) To reduce to one-tenth: to destroy or remove nine-tenths of (something).

8. (computer graphics) To replace (a high-resolution model) with another of lower but acceptable quality. (Usually algorithmically)

   • A decimate tool allows us to obtain a more coarse-grained view of the data over the full n-dimensional space.

noun

1. A tithe or other 10% tax or payment.

2. A tenth of something.

3. A set of ten items.