Meaning of centesimation | Babel Free

Definitions

The selection by lot of every hundredth man (of an army or group of prisoners or mutineers) for execution.

countable, rare, uncountable

Examples

“CENTESIMATION, a milder kind of military puniſhment, in caſes of deſertion, mutiny, and the like, when only every hundredth man is executed.”

“Sometimes the criminals were decimated by lot, as appears in Polybius, Tacitus, Plutarch, Appian, Dio, Julius Capitolinus, who also mentions a centesimation.”

“1897, The Columbian Cyclopedia VI, “centesimate” To inflict the punishment of centesimation.”

“Centesimation…carries only one-tenth the sensation value of “decimation”.”

“Decimate, to select by lot and put to death every tenth man of (a captured army or body of prisoners or mutineers) […] Compare 1/100: centesimation.”

CEFR level