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decimated

Verb
Pronunciation

Understanding ARPABET Pronunciation

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The pronunciation guide uses the ARPABET phonetic system—the same system used in speech recognition and text-to-speech applications.

Vowel Examples:
AE1 = cat, bat
EH1 = bed, head
IY1 = see, me
OW1 = go, boat
UW1 = boot, do
Stress Numbers:
0 = no stress (unstressed)
1 = primary stress (loud)
2 = secondary stress (medium)
Example:
AH0 TH IY1 N AH0
= a-THEE-na (Athena)

The stressed syllable (marked with 1) is pronounced louder and clearer than others.

Quick Definition

Destroyed, devastated, or drastically reduced in number, strength, or quality; historically, the term referred to killing one person in ten.

Detailed Definition
In modern usage, decimated means badly reduced or devastated, especially when talking about a population or group. Here it describes how the herds were severely diminished, adding a sense of loss and damage.
Example
Example in poetry:
“The herds were decimated, the people suffered too” uses decimated broadly for devastating loss; Historically, decimate meant to kill one person in ten, especially as Roman punishment; In modern usage it commonly means severely reduced or destroyed, though precision may matter in historical poems; “The fire decimated the cedar stand” conveys large-scale environmental damage
Additional Notes
The word in the line is less common in everyday speech and may need a lookup for its stronger historical meaning.; Found in the poem, Song of the White Calf by Richard
Also Known As
ravaged devastated obliterated annihilated
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