Master confusing words with ease
Annihilate vs. Decimate
Annihilate
/əˈnaɪəleɪt/Examples:
The team annihilated their rivals in a stunning victory.The wildfire annihilated thousands of acres in mere hours.Researchers aim to annihilate the virus with a new vaccine.
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Antonyms:
Decimate
/ˈdesəmeɪt/Examples:
The drought will likely decimate the agricultural yields.Overfishing has significantly decimated the salmon population.A large scandal could decimate the company's reputation swiftly.
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Antonyms:
Ways to tell them apart:
- Decimate originally referred to the practice of killing one in every ten soldiers; think dec for ten.
- Annihilate means to destroy something completely, reducing it to nothing; think nil in annihilate meaning nothing.
- Decimate is often used less literally in modern language to describe substantial but not complete destruction; annihilate is absolute.
- Decimate might imply a significant loss or reduction, but there's always something left.
- Use decimate for large-scale harm but incomplete devastation, and annihilate for total obliteration.
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