decimate

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for April 27, 2025 is: decimate \DESS-uh-mayt\ verb Decimate can mean both “to destroy a large number of (plants, animals, people, etc.)” or “to severely damage or destroy a large part of (something).” // The bay’s lobsters have been decimated by disease. // Budget cuts have decimated public services throughout the state. [See the entry >](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/decimate) Examples: “The deer—and there is an abundance of those animals this year—got into my beans and within a few nights they had all but decimated my crop. Tracks showed that at least half a dozen whitetails were invading the garden every night.” — Donnie Johnston, The Free Lance-Star (Fredericksburg, Virginia), 6 Aug. 2024 Did you know? Decimate is a word that often raises [hackles](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/hackle), at least those belonging to a small but committed group of [logophiles](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/logophile) who feel that it is commonly misused. The issue that they have with the decline and fall of the word decimate is that once upon a time in ancient Rome it had a very singular meaning: “to select by lot and kill every tenth man of a military unit.” However, many words in English descended from Latin have changed and/or expanded their meanings in their travels. For example, we no longer think of [sinister](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/sinister) as meaning “on the left side,” and [delicious](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/delicious) can describe things both tasty and delightful. Was the “to kill every tenth man” meaning the original use of decimate in English? Yes, but not by much. It took only a few decades for decimate to acquire its broader, familiar meaning of “to severely damage or destroy,” which has been employed steadily since the 17th century.