The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #132499   Message #2999638
Posted By: artbrooks
04-Oct-10 - 06:10 PM
Thread Name: BS: Language Pet Peeves
Subject: RE: BS: Language Pet Peeves
'Decimate'. It means "reduce by ten percent". It is not a synonym for devastate. An army that has 10 soldiers in every hundred killed has been decimated. A city destroyed by an earthquake is devastated.