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That definition is listed as "obsolete" with regards to that term: http://www.dictionary.com/browse/decimate http://www.dictionary.com/browse/decimate
by nercht12 10y ago
That definition is listed as "obsolete" with regards to that term: http://www.dictionary.com/browse/decimate http://www.dictionary.com/browse/decimate
- rocky1138 10y agoFrom your own link: "Because the etymological sense of one-tenth remains to some extent, decimate is not ordinarily used with exact fractions or percentages: Drought has destroyed (not decimated) nearly 80 percent of the cattle."
- aninhumer 10y agoYes, because "decimate" means greatly reduced rather than eliminated, so the example would be like saying "Drought has greatly reduced 80 of cattle" which doesn't make much sense.