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Definition
kill or destroy a large proportion; or seriously weaken- Hezbollah fighters decimated loyalist militias in Beirut.
- the Revolution decimated my family.E. Phillips Oppenheim -- The Yellow Crayon
- As predicted, it swooped through the decimated doorway without knocking so much as a sliver of stone from the medieval walls.Eoin Colfer -- Artemis Fowl
- Granted that his generation, however bruised and decimated from this Victorian war, were the heirs of progress.F. Scott Fitzgerald -- This Side of Paradise
- Eddis's Thief spoiled those plans, but you came about well, and here you are, once again ready to see my army decimated and your Medes heroes."Megan Whalen Turner -- Queen of Attolia
- From my spot, I surveyed the scenery and noticed few signs of the war that had decimated our lives.Leon Leyson -- The Boy on the Wooden Box
- Having chased them for the better part of ten minutes, the hornets began the winding journey hack to their decimated nest.John Green -- An Abundance of Katherines
- Chips of plaster and brick and wood were flying as the interior was decimated.Nicholas Sparks -- Dear John
- First of all, if I was expected to come to Yamacraw Island to preside over the intellectual decimation of forty kids, you selected the wrong boy.Pat Conroy -- The Water is Wide
- Yet, when all was said and done, who, in that terrorstricken, decimated populace, had scope for any activity worthy of his manhood?Albert Camus -- The Plague
- He said it was all over school, about how I'd decimated Lana in front of Josh.Meg Cabot -- The Princess Diaries
- When the remaining forces finally reach the foot of Kolvir, he'll decimate them there.Roger Zelazny -- Nine Princes in Amber
- Instinctively colluding in the conspiracy of their fiction, taking care not to decimate it with adult carelessness.Arundhati Roy -- The God of Small Things
- The army of the Scyldings was weakened, decimated.John Gardner -- Grendel
- He did not like this news; he had counted on the brothers Baratheon decimating each other in bloody battle.George R.R. Martin -- A Clash of Kings
- Unsurprisingly, the adult section had been decimated by looters; my choices seemed limited to hunting gear and industrial jumpsuits.Alexandra Bracken -- The Darkest Minds
- A decimated cheese board rested on an ottoman, and cracker crumbs littered the rug, and someone's forgotten shawl was slung across the back of a chair.Anne Tayler -- A Spool of Blue Thread
- He'd have cried and turned and smiled if only he could have seen the book thief on her hands and knees, next to his decimated body.Markus Zusak -- The Book Thief
- Sometimes a wolf would die, but never were they decimated again like that first time.Stephenie Meyer -- Eclipse
- Decimated but stubborn, they were among those who chose a fugitive life rather than Oklahoma.Toni Morrison -- Beloved