Decimation

Pronunciation

• UK IPA: /ËŒdÉ›sɪˈmeɪʃən/
• Rhymes: -eɪʃən

Origin

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.

Full definition of decimation

Noun

1. The killing or destruction of a large portion of a population.
• 1702: Cotton Mather, Magnalia Christi Americana - And the whole army had cause to enquire into their own rebellions, when they saw the Lord of Hosts, with a dreadful decimation, taking off so many of our brethren by the worst of executioners.
2. A tithing.
3. A selection of every tenth person by lot, as for punishment.
• Shakespeare Timon, V-v - By decimation and a tithed death,
  ... take thou the destin'd tenth.
4. (mathematics) The creation of a new sequence comprising only every nth element of the original sequence.
5. (telecommunications) A digital signal processing technique for reducing the number of samples in a discrete-time signal.

Coordinate terms

Anagrams

• medication