decimate

动词 decimate:

1. kill one in every ten, as of mutineers in Roman armies
2. kill in large numbers
   同义词：eliminate, annihilate, extinguish, eradicate, wipe out, carry off

1. Student numbers have been decimated by cuts in grants.
   助学金削减後，学生人数大大减少。
2. Disease has decimated the population.
   疾病使大部分人死亡。

dec.i.mate

v.tr.（及物动词）
dec.i.mat.ed,dec.i.mat.ing,dec.i.mates
To destroy or kill a large part of (a group).
破坏：毁灭或杀死（一群）中的大部分
Usage Problem
【用法疑难】
To inflict great destruction or damage on:
毁损：使…遭受巨大破坏或损失：
例句：
The fawns decimated my sister`s rose bushes.
小鹿弄坏了我姐姐的玫瑰花丛

To reduce markedly in amount:
骤减：在数量上显著减少：
例句：
a profligate heir who decimated his trust fund.
急剧减少信托基金的恣意挥霍的继承人

To select by lot and kill one in every ten of.
以抽签的方式选出并杀死其中的十分之一

来源：
Latin decim3re decim3t- [to punish every tenth person]
拉丁语 decim3re decim3t- [惩罚每十个人中的一个]
from decimus [tenth]
源自 decimus [第十]
from decem [ten] * see dekô
源自 decem [十] *参见 dekô

【引伸】
dec.ima.tion
n.（名词）
Decimate originally referred to the killing of every tenth person, a punishment used in the Roman army for mutinous legions.Today this meaning is commonly extended to include the killing of any large proportion of a group.Sixty-six percent of the Usage Panel accepts this extension in the sentenceThe Jewish population of Germany was decimated by the war, even though it is common knowledge thatthe number of Jews killed was much greater than a tenth of the original population.However, when the meaning is further extended to include large-scale destruction other than killing,as inThe supply of fresh produce was decimated by the accident at Chernobyl, the usage is accepted by only 2' percent of the Panel.
Decimate 最初指杀死每十人中的一个， 用于古罗马军队对反叛军团的一种惩罚。现在这一层意思通常引申为大批杀死。用法专题使用小组中''%的成员认为在德国的犹太人在战争中被大批杀死 一句中该词的这一引申义可接受， 尽管众所周知，被杀的犹太人的数目远比最初人口的十分之一要多。可是，当词义外延至包括大量毁灭而不是戳杀，如在新鲜农产品的供应由于车诺比事故极大地受到了破坏 一句中， 用法专题使用小组中只有2'%的成员接受这一用法。