decimate

• vt. 十中抽一，取十分之一；大批杀害

来自decim-, 十分之一。原为军事用语，一旦出现叛乱的城市或军队，则按照总数量十分之一的比例成批次杀死。类似于汉语的连坐。

1. kill one in every ten, as of mutineers in Roman armies

2. kill in large numbers;

"the plague wiped out an entire population"

decimate

decimate: [17] Decimate is a cause célèbre amongst those who apparently believe that words should never change their meanings. The original general signification of its Latin source, the verb decimāre, was the removal or destruction of one tenth (it was derived from Latin decem ‘ten’), and it may perhaps strike the 20th century as odd to have a particular word for such an apparently abstruse operation.

It does, however, arise out of two very specific procedures in the ancient world: the exaction of a tax of one tenth (for which indeed English has the ultimately related word tithe), and the practice in the Roman army of punishing a body of soldiers guilty of some crime such as mutiny by choosing one in ten of them by lot to be put to death. Modern English does not perhaps have much use for a verb with such specialized senses, but the general notion of impassive and indiscriminate slaughter implied in the Roman military use led, apparently as early as the mid- 17th century, to the modern sense ‘kill or destroy most of’.
=> decimal, ten

decimate (v.)

c. 1600, in reference to the practice of punishing mutinous military units by capital execution of one in every 10, by lot; from Latin decimatus, past participle of decimare (see decimation). Killing one in ten, chosen by lots, from a rebellious city or a mutinous army was a common punishment in classical times. The word has been used (incorrectly, to the irritation of pedants) since 1660s for "destroy a large portion of." Related: Decimated; decimating.

Many adversities decimate the fluke numbers.

许多很不利的因素可使吸虫数量减少十分之一.

辞典例句

Devastators should be used to decimate infantry and attack units ranges.

毁灭战舰应该被用于远距离大批屠杀步兵和攻击单位.

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The young blue - skinned commander was able to decimate the intruders despite inferior weapons and numbers.

虽然在武器的数量和质量上都处于劣势,但这个年轻的蓝皮肤指挥官还是给入侵者造成重创.

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The banshees and attack the colossi the terran ground forces decimate the protoss infantry.

隐匿的女妖轰炸机消灭了巨像,并配合地面部队消灭了神族地面部队.

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The banshees and attack the colossi as the terran ground forces decimate the protoss infantry.

隐匿的女妖轰炸机消灭了巨像,并配合地面部队消灭了异能者地面部队.

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