PERMANENT SOURCE RECORD
ALL SOURCES ↗BIBLIOGRAPHIC IDENTITYmw-decimate-usage
SOURCE
RECORD.
One work. Every claim that depends on it. No citation without a consequence you can inspect.
6 PUBLIC LINKS INTO THE GRAPH.
This count excludes duplicate dossier-path citations. Open the claims below to see exactly how the source is used.
editorial referencemw-decimate-usage
The Original Definition of Decimate
- AUTHOR / EDITOR
- Merriam-Webster Editors
- YEAR
- 2026
- PUBLISHER
- Merriam-Webster
- DOI
- Not recorded
- SOURCE TYPE
- editorial reference
- EXTERNAL RECORD
- OPEN ORIGINAL ↗
011
CONTRARIAN TRUTH CLAIMS
RANKED REVEALS THAT CITE THIS SOURCE
RANK 157GRADE Asupports
The one-in-ten origin is real—and the usage scold is still wrong.
English began with the tenth-member punishment sense, then broadened the word within decades. Etymology records change; it does not veto it.
*dekm̥
*dekm̥ → decem → decimus → decimāre → decimate
Regarding the Incorrect Use of DecimateExplains why the broader established English sense is not an etymological error.
decimate dossier ↗truth record ↗85UNVEILING
022
SCHOLARLY DISAGREEMENT
DISPUTE POSITIONS THAT CITE THIS SOURCE
resolvedcontextestablished
Must decimate mean only kill one in ten?
No. That was its earliest English historical sense, but drastic reduction and destruction have been established since the seventeenth century.
Regarding the Incorrect Use of DecimateExplains why the broader English sense is established rather than erroneous.
resolvedcontextestablished
Is the Roman tenth-member story invented?
No. The Latin and historical punishment sense is real; the error is using etymology to ban later English meanings.
Regarding the Incorrect Use of DecimateSeparates that real history from the prescriptive folklore.
031
CANONICAL RELATIONSHIP CLAIMS
EDGES THAT CITE THIS SOURCE
EDGE 169supportsestablished
decimate → decimāre
Present-Day English → Latin · borrowing
- SOUND
- English decimate is formed on the Latin past-participial stem decimāt-.
- MEANING
- The exact selection or taxation of a tenth broadens within English to drastic reduction or destruction.
- SCHOLAR / EDITOR
- Merriam-Webster Editors
Regarding the Incorrect Use of DecimateExplains why the broader English sense is established rather than erroneous.
040
LEXICAL ATTESTATIONS
WITNESSES REPORTED BY THIS SOURCE
No lexical witness currently cites this source.
050
COMPARATIVE EVIDENCE
COGNATES, DESCENDANTS, AND RELATIVES
No comparative-relative record currently cites this source.
062
GEOGRAPHIC AND TEMPORAL CLAIMS
JOURNEY STAGES THAT CITE THIS SOURCE
stage 3challenges
England
The same publisher’s usage essay instead reports its earliest record at the end of the sixteenth century, so the route exposes a by-1660 horizon rather than an exact uncontested date.
Paragraph beginning “Was the sense meaning…” · approximatestage 4context
English-language decimate senses
Explains why restricting present-day decimate to its Roman every-tenth history is an etymological fallacy and documents early English sense expansion.
Discussion of semantic change and multiple meanings · broad070
NON-GENEALOGICAL CONNECTIONS
HISTORICAL CONTEXT, KEPT SEPARATE
No non-genealogical context link currently cites this source.
081
WORD-FAMILY REUSE
DOSSIERS THAT DEPEND ON THIS SOURCE
1 entry-scoped citations map reviewed dossier paths onto the canonical claims above.