Definition of decimation Decimation

/dɛˈsʌmejˌʃʌn/ - [desumeyshun] - dec•i•ma•tion

We found 12 definitions of decimation from 6 different sources.

What does decimation mean?

Plural: decimations

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

destruction, devastation the termination of something by causing so much damage to it that it cannot be repaired or no longer exists

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decimation (Noun)
The killing or destruction of a large portion of a population.
decimation (Noun)
A tithing.
decimation (Noun)
A selection of every tenth person by lot, as for punishment.
decimation (Noun)
The creation of a new sequence comprising only every nth element of the original sequence.
decimation (Noun)
A digital signal processing technique for reducing the number of samples in a discrete-time signal.

decimation (n.)
A tithing.
decimation (n.)
A selection of every tenth person by lot, as for punishment.
decimation (n.)
The destruction of any large proportion, as of people by pestilence or war.

decimation
The punishing every tenth soldier by lot, was truly decimatio legionis.

decimation
A military punishment inflicted among the Romans on cowardly or mutinous troops. It consisted in selecting by lot one-tenth of the whole body of troops who misbehaved, and putting them to death. There have been a few instances of this species of punishment in modern times. In 1642 the Archduke Leopold employed it against a regiment of cavalry; Marshal Créqui also had recourse to it against the mutinous garrison of Trèves, and before the battle of Waterloo Blücher is said to have punished in this manner a body of mutinous troops.