Standard Lemma guide

decimation

noun · 6 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • General-American, UK: /ˌdɛsɪˈmeɪʃən/
  • Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • rhymes with -eɪʃən
  • CMU ARPABET: D EH1 S AH0 M EY2 SH AH0 N Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

noun

Meaning 1

The killing or punishment of every tenth person, usually by lot.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: Ancient-Rome, countable, uncountable

Qualifier: strictly

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: tithing

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

The killing or destruction of any large portion of a population.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: countable, uncountable

Qualifier: generally

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

3

noun

Meaning 3

A tithe or the act of tithing.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: countable, uncountable

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

4

noun

Meaning 4

The creation of a new sequence comprising only every nth element of a source sequence.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: countable, uncountable

Topics: mathematics, sciences

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

5

noun

Meaning 5

The creation of a new sequence comprising only every nth element of a source sequence.

A digital signal-processing technique for reducing the number of samples in a discrete-time signal; downsampling

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: countable, uncountable

Topics: computing, engineering, mathematics, natural-sciences, physical-sciences, sciences, signal-processing

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

6

noun

Meaning 6

destroying or killing a large part of the population (literally every tenth person as chosen by lot)

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: destruction, devastation

History

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.

Across languages

Translations

12 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Chinese Mandarin: 十一抽殺 /十一抽杀 (shíyīchōushā) — selection of every tenth person for death or other punishment
  • Finnish: desimaatio — selection of every tenth person for death or other punishment
  • Greek: αποδεκάτισμα (apodekátisma) — selection of every tenth person for death or other punishment
  • Macedonian: десеткување (desetkuvanje) — selection of every tenth person for death or other punishment
  • Russian: децимация (decimacija) — selection of every tenth person for death or other punishment
  • Swedish: decimering — selection of every tenth person for death or other punishment
  • Finnish: joukkotuho — killing or destruction of a large portion of a population
  • Finnish: joukkosurma — killing or destruction of a large portion of a population
  • Spanish: diezmado — killing or destruction of a large portion of a population
  • Spanish: decimación — killing or destruction of a large portion of a population
  • Finnish: desimointi — creation of a new sequence comprising every nth element of the original
  • Finnish: desimointi — digital signal-processing technique