decimation

plural decimations

1. Ancient RomecountableuncountablestrictlyThe killing or punishment of every tenth person, usually by lot.

   By decimation and a tythed death; / If thy Reuenges hunger for that Food, / Which Nature loathes, take thou the deſtin'd tenth, […]

   c. 1605–1608 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Life of Tymon of Athens”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act V, scene v], page 98, column 1

   Synonyms: tithing

2. countableuncountablegenerallyThe killing or destruction of any large portion of a population.

   And the vvhole Army had cauſe to enquire into their own Rebellions, vvhen they ſavv the Lord of Hoſts, vvith a dreadful Decimation, taking off ſo many of our Brethren by the vvorſt of Executioners.

   1702, Cotton Mather, “Book V (Acts and Monuments. […])”, in Magnalia Christi Americana: Or, the Ecclesiastical History of New-England, from Its First Planting in the Year 1620. unto the Year of Our Lord, 1698. […], London: […] Thomas Parkhurst, […], →OCLC, 4th part (The Reforming Synod of New-England, […]), § 1, page 86, column 1

   1 more example

   General Secretary Mick Lynch said: "It is crystal clear that the planned cutbacks on ScotRail and SWR are just the tip of the iceberg, as cynical employers use the cloak of COVID-19 to smuggle through the decimation of jobs and services on Britain's railways.

   2021 September 8, “RMT on "war footing" in response to workforce cutback threats”, in RAIL, number 939, page 15

3. countableuncountableA tithe or the act of tithing.
4. countableuncountablemathematicsThe creation of a new sequence comprising only every nth element of a source sequence.
   1. countableuncountablecomputingA digital signal-processing technique for reducing the number of samples in a discrete-time signal; downsampling