Definition
Decimate means to destroy or kill a large portion of something or to cause great damage or harm.
Pronunciation
US English
UK English
See Synonyms, Antonyms and Usage
Excerpts from News Articles
With our rivers already full of sewage and suffering over-extraction – due to the collapse in the Environment Agency’s capacity to oversee standards since the Tory government decimated its funding – this statement insults the public’s intelligence.
While further studies are needed to identify the properties of the resin sought by the animals and thus confirm that this is indeed zoopharmacognosy, the use of this essence in traditional medicine suggests that mammals visit cabreúvas to heal their wounds and repel parasites. For lion tamarins, the use of cabreúva resin could play an important role in the fight against yellow fever, a mosquito-borne disease that decimates primate populations.
Worse, the sudden drop in light and ocean temperatures would decimate marine algae, which are the foundation of the marine food web, creating a years-long ocean famine. While the whole ocean would be affected, the worst effects would be concentrated at higher latitudes, including all of Europe and especially in the Baltic states, where ocean light is already in short supply.
But Europe’s insatiable appetite for frogs is decimating local populations in these countries, warns a report published in the journal Nature Conservation.
And just to indulge some historical reminiscence, the last time the Fed executed anything like the current accelerated tightening campaign, in 1994, there was breakage galore in the fixed-income markets. A whole class of short-term bond funds engineered with exotic securities to offer above-average yields and sold as cash substitutes were decimated by higher rates. The brokerage Kidder Peabody was hobbled by a mortgage-trading scandal when the market was roiled.
Twitter's communications team has been effectively silent since November, when it was reportedly decimated in the layoffs that CEO Elon Musk implemented after buying the company.
As a result, in order for Mr Manchin to survive, he needs healthy support from Republicans and independents in the state. But his giving Democrats a major policy win decimated his support among the two groups, a Morning Consult poll found last year.
Dead Cells is flow-state gaming at its finest; with options to suit nearly every playstyle. It's easy to sink into gaming nirvana as you careen through its procedurally-generated levels, decimating everything on your way to the next objective. With Castlevania's iconic aesthetic to back it up, Dead Cells' gameplay climbs to an even higher bar of quality and fun. Adding two additional levels, a couple of new boss fights, and a smattering of additional features, this DLC melds seamlessly into a typical run at the game.
On 24 March, North Korea said it had tested a nuclear-capable underwater drone that can set off a “super-scale radioactive tsunami” to decimate naval fleets and ports of the enemy.
PSG have been severely hampered by injuries, with Neymar recovering from ankle surgery and their defence decimated .
Attacks of similar weight were begun in November 1944 from the newly acquired bases on the Marianas. With the decimation of Japan’s remaining skilled pilots at the battles of the Philippine Sea (June 19–20, 1944) and Leyte Gulf (October 23–26, 1944), the necessary control of the air had already been won. .
Despite his grand pronouncements and the hopes they inspired across the region, Egyptian president Gamal Abdel Nasser’s vision of collective regeneration had turned out to be all puff and no firepower: with poor strategy and insufficient military infrastructure, the Arab air forces were demolished before they had even taken off, and the Israelis proceeded to decimate their infantries from the air, capturing in the process not only the West Bank and East Jerusalem but also the Jordan River and the Golan Heights.
The 4,900km-long river, which originates in China, has been decimated over the years by rapid dam building in riparian countries as well as climate change.
The local news business is in crisis. The nation is currently losing two community newspapers a week, on average, and 70 million Americans live in news deserts, communities with little or no local news coverage. In much of the remaining territory, all that’s left are decimated newsrooms and advertisement-heavy publications with little local news, sometimes called “ghost papers.”
North Korea claims “Haeil-1”, tested at the end of March, can set off a “super-scale radioactive tsunami” that is designed to destroy ports and decimate naval fleets.
This appetite could explain why some reefs escape outbreaks while nearby coral are decimated .
The United States had spent more than {$}2 trillion in Afghanistan, and more than 2,400 US service members died there. Equally valid is the document’s assertion that US strategic goals — especially decimating al-Qaeda and denying it an Afghan haven — were mostly accomplished. Nevertheless, it is far from clear that the US commitment had grown into an unsustainable drain on this country’s resources.
“It has decimated Dominion’s ability to attract and retain employees, because the company is under siege,” said Megan Meier, an attorney for the voting machine company.
But many producers also face an altogether different problem - sharp spring frosts that decimate harvests. Such dramatic shifts in weather patterns can be clearly linked to climate change.
The move follows the "Hello Hong Kong" promotion campaign that kicked off in March to woo back visitors and investors after three years of stringent COVID-19 rules decimated the economy.
Rent the Runway, which offers subscription services to rent clothing and accessories and also offers the service a la carte, has been charting a path to profitability after a roller coaster couple of years decimated its market cap and sent its share price plunging.
In these populations, scientists found evidence of “trophic cascades,” the effects of predator consumption on the rest of the food web. Killer whales had top-down effects on the density of kelp forests; the killer whales greatly reduced the sea otter population, which caused the sea urchins — the sea otters’ main food source — to proliferate and decimate the kelp forests.
Prices declined slightly after peaking in late 2022, but they're still up 20% over the last two years. Relatedly, avian flu decimated egg-laying flocks of chickens, which accounted for a dramatic surge in egg prices last year.
Decimated lion prides in Botswana’s Okavango Delta rangelands are making a comeback, thanks to an innovative programme that helps reduce human-lion conflict in the area.
This means that the proposed tax would hardly decimate the bank accounts of the ultra-wealthy.
While airlines have made significant ground in piecing back together a workforce that was decimated during the pandemic, attracting either experienced workers or people from outside the industry back to aviation has come at a high cost.
The tort claim argues the tragedy was akin to the violence that decimated a vibrant community known as Black Wall Street more than a century ago in Tulsa, Oklahoma, leaving as many as 300 people dead. There were no reported deaths in connection with the displacement of families from Section 14.
Desperate for tangible economic achievements, Kim’s government has prioritised construction and agricultural projects, which are less dependent on external trade. Industrial production, meanwhile, remains decimated by international sanctions and COVID-linked border shutdowns.
“It was complete decimation of the land,” said Jaclyn Rhoads, assistant executive director of the Pinelands Preservation Alliance, a New Jersey nonprofit that co-signed the letter.
The leaked Pentagon documents reveal substantial Russian weaknesses, including the decimation of elite forces on the front lines — and show that U.S. officials have been able to glean an extraordinary level of information about Russian operations, for example being able to count how many missiles are being loaded onto bombers and, in some cases, where they intend to strike targets in Ukraine.
For example, some fish increase their metabolism in warm waters by so much that they burn energy faster than they can eat, and they can die. Pacific cod declined by 70% in the Gulf of Alaska in response to a marine heat wave. Other impacts include bleached corals, widespread harmful algal blooms, decimated seaweeds and increased marine mammal strandings. All told, billions of U.S. dollars are lost to marine heat waves each year.
Fox News’s legal troubles related to the 2020 presidential election are far from over, despite its massive settlement with Dominion Voting Systems announced Tuesday afternoon. The media company also faces a {$}2.7 billion defamation lawsuit filed by another voting technology company, Smartmatic, that alleges Fox broadcast lies that “ decimated ” its business.
The first cats arrived with early European explorers on ships in the 1700s, and wild cat populations grew around the country. These cats are often larger than their house cat counterparts, weighing in at up to 15 pounds. New Zealand has set an ambitious goal of eradicating by 2050 all nonnative pests — including feral cats, weasel-like stoats, possums, rats and mice — that have decimated much of its unique fauna.
After the Guardian investigation, a reader wrote an impassioned email to the team behind it. “As someone from the diaspora of Jamaica, I have been on a mission to hopefully force the change and removal of slave ships featured on both Manchester City and Manchester United’s club logos, plus the City of Manchester council,” it began. The reader said that while “our ancestors are screaming for justice”, they are “mocked by the very tools (ships) of the trade that decimated the African population”.
The current strain of the avian influenza, which has been decimating bird populations globally, is perilously different than previous disease outbreaks, according to US researchers who are calling for urgent action.