释义 |
dec·i·mate \ˈdesəˌmāt, usu -ād.+V\ transitive verb (-ed/-ing/-s) Etymology: Latin decimatus, past participle of decimare, from decimus tenth, from decem ten — more at ten 1. : to select by lot and kill every tenth man of < decimate a regiment > 2. a. : to take a tenth from : tax to the amount of one-tenth b. (1) : to take a tenth part of (ore) by means of a sampling device (2) : to take every tenth one of < decimate carloads > 3. : to destroy a considerable part of : reduce to the point of almost complete extermination < war, which … nearly decimated the Seminoles — R.F.Warner > : decrease greatly < inflation has decimated … buying power — New Republic > 4. : to rearrange (an alphabet or text) into another sequence by taking every nth item until all are taken (as, if n is 3 ABCDEFG becomes ADGCFBE if the counting applies to the complete original sequence but ADGECFB if the letters previously taken out are skipped in counting) |