Wednesday, April 17, 2019

Usage: Decimated

Decimated


“Personally, I think some early-years, respected television personality got decimated and devastated confused at some point, and no one wanted to point it out to him, so everyone started using them interchangeably. But dammit, words mean what they mean, even if everyone thinks they ought to mean something else.” – Jim Butcher

The word decimated goes back to Roman times when the army would kill off every tenth soldier to improve morale. Sharing the same root as decimal, the word literally means to reduce by a tenth. But when English took over the word, it was used to mean demolished, destroyed, or devastated.

Recommendation
I would hesitate using the word in formal writing to mean mostly destroyed. Enough people still hold to the literal meaning, so be cautious. Feel free to use it if it comes naturally to you.

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