decimation

noun

1. (Ancient-Rome, countable, uncountable)The killing or punishment of every tenth person, usually by lot.

   “By decimation and a tythed death; / If thy Reuenges hunger for that Food, / Which Nature loathes, take thou the deſtin'd tenth, […]”

2. (countable, uncountable)The killing or destruction of any large portion of a population.

   “And the vvhole Army had cauſe to enquire into their own Rebellions, vvhen they ſavv the Lord of Hoſts, vvith a dreadful Decimation, taking off ſo many of our Brethren by the vvorſt of Executioners.”

   “General Secretary Mick Lynch said: "It is crystal clear that the planned cutbacks on ScotRail and SWR are just the tip of the iceberg, as cynical employers use the cloak of COVID-19 to smuggle through the decimation of jobs and services on Britain's railways.”

3. (countable, uncountable)A tithe or the act of tithing.
4. (countable, uncountable)The creation of a new sequence comprising only every nth element of a source sequence.
5. (countable, uncountable)The creation of a new sequence comprising only every nth element of a source sequence.