decimation n : destroying or killing a large part of the population (literally every tenth person as chosen by lot)

English

Etymology

From lang=la, a punishment where every 10th man in a unit would be stoned to death by the men who were spared. Used by the Romans to keep order in their military.

Pronunciation

• Rhymes with: -eɪʃǝn

Noun

1. The killing or destruction of a large portion of a population.
   • 1702: Cotton Mather, Magnalia Christi Americana - And the whole army had cause to enquire into their own rebellions, when they saw the Lord of Hosts, with a dreadful decimation, taking off so many of our brethren by the worst of executioners.
2. A tithing.
3. A selection of every tenth person by lot, as for punishment.
   • , V-v - By decimation and a tithed death, / ... take thou the destin'd tenth.
4. The creation of a new sequence comprising only every nth element of the original sequence.
5. A digital signal processing technique for reducing the number of samples in a discrete-time signal.

References

• Century 1914}}

Decimation may refer to:

• Decimation (Roman army), a form of military discipline used by officers in the Roman army for punishment
• Decimation (signal processing), a reduction in the number of samples
• Decimation (comics), a Marvel Comics crossover spinning out of the House of M miniseries