• Feathercrown@lemmy.world
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    2 months ago

    Using “decimate” to mean “completely destroy” is not a misuse of the word. The word’s meaning has simply changed.

    • pyre@lemmy.world
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      2 months ago

      exactly. plus it makes sense, there’s no reason why decimate can’t mean reduce to one tenth.

      • Hugin@lemmy.world
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        2 months ago

        It’s right there in the word. deci 1/10 mate from matus to remove. It’s like expecting half price to mean 1/3 price. We use deci all the time to mean 1/10 Decileter, decimal, etc.