different between decimation vs massacre

English

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin decim?ti?, a punishment where every 10th man in a unit would be stoned to death by the men who were spared. Used by the Romans to keep order in their military. Compare septimation and vicesimation.

Pronunciation

• (UK, US) IPA^(key): /?d?s??me???n/
• Rhymes: -e???n

Noun

decimation (plural decimations)

1. (strictly) The killing or punishment of every tenth person, usually by lot.
2. (generally) The killing or destruction of any large portion of a population.
   • 1702: Cotton Mather, Magnalia Christi Americana - And the whole army had cause to enquire into their own rebellions, when they saw the Lord of Hosts, with a dreadful decimation, taking off so many of our brethren by the worst of executioners.
3. A tithe or the act of tithing.
4. (mathematics) The creation of a new sequence comprising only every nth element of a source sequence.
   1. (signal processing) A digital signal-processing technique for reducing the number of samples in a discrete-time signal; downsampling

Synonyms

• (the act of killing or punishing each tenth person): tithing
• (the payment of a tenth to the clergy): See tithe

Coordinate terms

• (proportionate reduction, by single aliquot part): quintation (1/5), septimation (1/7), vicesimation (1/20), tricesimation (1/30), centesimation (1/100)

Related terms

• decimate

Translations

References

• William Dwight Whitney and Benjamin E[li] Smith, editors (1914) , “decimation”, in The Century Dictionary: An Encyclopedic Lexicon of the English Language, volume II (D–Hoon), revised edition, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., OCLC 1078064371.

Anagrams

• medication

English

Alternative forms

• massacer (archaic)

Etymology

1580, from Middle French massacre, from Old French macacre, marcacre, macecre, macecle (“slaughterhouse, butchery”), usually thought to be deverbal from Old French macecrer, macecler (“to slaughter”), though the noun seems to be attested somewhat earlier. It is also found in Medieval Latin mazacrium (“massacre, slaughter, killing”, also “the head of a newly killed stag”). Further origin disputed:

• From Latin macellum (“butcher shop”).
• From Vulgar Latin *matteucul?re, from *matteuca (cf. massue), from Late Latin mattea, mattia, from Latin mateola.
• From Middle Low German *matskelen (“to massacre”) (compare German metzeln (“massacre”)), frequentative of matsken, matzgen (“to cut, hew”), from Proto-West Germanic *maitan, from Proto-Germanic *maitan? (“to cut”), from Proto-Indo-European *mei- (“small”). Akin to Old High German meizan (“to cut”) among others.
• Note also Arabic ?????????? (majzara), originally “spot where animals are slaughtered”, now also “massacre”, and in Maghrebi Arabic “slaughterhouse”. Derived from ??????? (jazara, “to cut, slaughter”).

Pronunciation

• (General American) IPA^(key): /?mæs.?.k?/
• (UK) IPA^(key): /?mæs.?.k?(?)/

Noun

massacre (countable and uncountable, plural massacres)

1. The killing of a considerable number (usually limited to people) where little or no resistance can be made, with indiscriminate violence, without necessity, and contrary to civilized norms.
   • 1592, William Shakespeare, Titus Andronicus, Act I, Scene v:

     I'll find a day to massacre them all,
     And raze their faction and their family

   St. Bartholomew's Day Massacre

   St. Valentine's Day Massacre

   Amritsar Massacre

2. (obsolete) Murder.
   • 1593, William Shakespeare, The Tragedy of Richard the Third

     The tyrannous and bloody act is done,—
     The most arch deed of piteous massacre
     That ever yet this land was guilty of.

3. (figuratively) Any overwhelming defeat, as in a game or sport.

Synonyms

• (mass killing contrary to civilized norms): butchery, slaughter (in the manner of livestock); decimation (strictly an orderly selection of ? of a group for slaughter; see its entry for other terms concerning other ratios)

Hyponyms

• (mass killing contrary to civilized norms): atrocity; war crime; ethnic cleansing

Related terms

• carnage
• mass murder
• massacrer
• massacree

Translations

Verb

massacre (third-person singular simple present massacres, present participle massacring, simple past and past participle massacred)

1. (transitive) To kill in considerable numbers where little or no resistance can be made, with indiscriminate violence, without necessity, and contrary to civilized norms. (Often limited to the killing of human beings.)
   • 1849, Thomas Babington Macaulay, The History Of England From the Accession of James II

     If James should be pleased to massacre them all, as Maximilian had massacred the Theban legion

2. (figuratively) To win so decisively it is in the manner of so slaughtering one's opponent.
3. (figuratively) To give a performance so poorly it is in the manner of so slaughtering the musical piece, play etc being performed.

Translations

Anagrams

• Marescas, massacer

Catalan

Etymology

Borrowed from French massacre.

Pronunciation

• (Balearic, Central) IPA^(key): /m??sa.k??/
• (Valencian) IPA^(key): /ma?sa.k?e/

Noun

massacre f (plural massacres)

1. massacre

Related terms

• massacrar

Further reading

• “massacre” in Diccionari de la llengua catalana, segona edició, Institut d’Estudis Catalans.

French

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ma.sak?/

Etymology 1

From Middle French massacre, from the verb massacrer.

Noun

massacre m (plural massacres)

1. massacre

Related terms

• massacrer

Descendants

Etymology 2

Verb

massacre

1. first-person singular present indicative of massacrer
2. third-person singular present indicative of massacrer
3. first-person singular present subjunctive of massacrer
4. third-person singular present subjunctive of massacrer
5. second-person singular imperative of massacrer

Further reading

• “massacre” in Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).

Anagrams

• sacrâmes, sarcasme

Middle French

Etymology

Of disputed origin:

• Most likely from Old French macecrer, macecler, from Vulgar Latin *matteucul?re, from *matteuca (cf. massue), from Late Latin mattia, *mattea, from Latin mateola.
• From a derivative of Latin macellum (“butcher shop”), although this is less likely.
• From Old French macacre, macecle (“slaughterhouse, butchery”), alternatively from Medieval Latin mazacrium (“massacre, slaughter, killing”, also “the head of a newly killed stag”), from Middle Low German *matskelen (“to massacre”) (compare German metzeln (“massacre”)), frequentative of matsken, matzgen (“to cut, hew”), from Proto-West Germanic *maitan, from Proto-Germanic *maitan? (“to cut”), from Proto-Indo-European *mei- (“small”). Akin to Old High German meizan (“to cut”) among others.

Noun

massacre m (plural massacres)

1. massacre

Descendants

• French: massacre

Occitan

Etymology

From French massacre

Pronunciation

Noun

massacre m (plural massacres)

1. massacre

Related terms

• massacrar

Portuguese

Etymology

Borrowed from French massacre.

Pronunciation

Noun

massacre m (plural massacres)

1. massacre

Related terms

• massacrar
• massacrante