How to Use decimate in a Sentence

decimate

verb
Definition of decimatenext
Synonyms for decimatenext
  • This kind of moth is responsible for decimating thousands of trees in our town.
  • Budget cuts have decimated public services in small towns.
  • Bouts of large-scale logging decimated close to a third of their forest in the 1980s.
    — Erika Page, The Christian Science Monitor, 7 July 2023
  • As the sanctions decimate oligarchs’ wealth, could that prompt them to abandon Putin or change the course of the war?
    — Stanislav Markus, The Conversation, 4 Mar. 2022
  • But that duo found a way (ways?) to decimate the Niners last Sunday.
    — Dieter Kurtenbach, The Mercury News, 25 Oct. 2024
  • Farm Act changes, Wilson claimed, would decimate the Glades.
    — Hannah Morse, ProPublica, 4 Feb. 2022
  • The spread of an avian flu virus has decimated flocks of birds (and killed barn cats and other mammals).
    — Arthur Allen, CBS News, 29 May 2024
  • Not only did the song decimate the Billboard charts and go six-times platinum.
    — cleveland, 12 Aug. 2020
  • This same colony of birds was decimated the previous year due to avian flu.
    — Cecilia Rodriguez, Forbes, 23 Sep. 2024
  • His plan was to smuggle the trunks to northern cities to infect people and decimate Union forces.
    — TIME, 4 May 2024
  • This will decimate the Russian military and end the war, and also solve the labor shortage here in the U.S.
    — WSJ, 16 Dec. 2022
  • But that was before Elon Musk took over the company and decimated much of its staff.
    — Marco Marcelline, PCMAG, 6 May 2023
  • These measures could decimate the small and medium-sized businesses that create 65% of on-the-books jobs in the country.
    — Axel Kaiser, WSJ, 21 Dec. 2021
  • Only option is a trade that could decimate the Heat’s younger players.
    — Ira Winderman, Sun Sentinel, 11 July 2022
  • That, in turn, could decimate backyard gardens and crop yields.
    — Jen Rose Smith, CNN, 7 May 2021
  • Rodgers, the future Hall of Famer, has the ability to decimate the Dolphins’ pass defense.
    — Chris Perkins, Sun Sentinel, 22 Dec. 2022
  • The genista broom caterpillar had decimated a plant in record time.
    — Arkansas Online, 23 July 2023
  • By June, word was traveling in rural parts of the state that the bill, known as cap and trade, would decimate the timber industry.
    — Britta Lokting, The New Republic, 23 Aug. 2022
  • Resolve not to hide it anymore, and decimate the useless shame holding you back.
    — Arthur C. Brooks, The Atlantic, 12 Nov. 2021
  • Napster was the scourge of the music industry in the ‘00s, when its peer-to-peer file-sharing software helped decimate record sales.
    — Mark Sutherland, Variety, 30 June 2022
  • This fungus can quickly sweep through a vineyard to decimate a crop.
    — Elin McCoy, Fortune Europe, 11 May 2024
  • The redistricting process ahead of the 2022 elections could decimate the ranks of New York Republicans in the House.
    — Kerry Picket, Washington Examiner, 22 Feb. 2021
  • Most of those who died were from Milwaukee; the tragedy decimated the Irish community in the Third Ward.
    — Caitlin Looby, Journal Sentinel, 2 May 2024
  • Red Oak will win if: Ervin and Gay continue to decimate the Summit defense.
    — Joseph Hoyt, Dallas News, 29 Dec. 2020
  • Since 2021, avian flu has been decimating wild and domestic birds in several parts of the world.
    — Margaret Osborne, Smithsonian Magazine, 27 Feb. 2023
  • So there has to be a fix here, rather than giving everyone 48 stat masks every year that decimate your stats.
    — Paul Tassi, Forbes, 17 Oct. 2021
  • Will the Ravens again give up big plays with a cornerback group that has already been decimated by injuries?
    — Mike Preston, Baltimore Sun, 1 Sep. 2023
  • In the second movie, society has crumbled, but the world hasn't yet been decimated.
    — Megan McCluskey, TIME, 22 May 2024
  • The Sharks have been decimated at times this season at the center position.
    — Curtis Pashelka, The Mercury News, 3 Mar. 2024
  • This year, 26-foot-high waters no one ever imagined have left things decimated.
    — Demarco Williams, Forbes, 23 Oct. 2024

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'decimate.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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