Word.ws English Dictionary

decima

/ˈdɛsɪmə/UK/ˈdɛsɪmə/

decima noun: a tithe or tax of one-tenth (now usually in historical Italian contexts).

Noun (1)

decima (plural decimas)

  1. (generally obsolete) A tithe or tax of one-tenth (now usually in historical Italian contexts).
    • He brandished his title as apostolic commissioner in court, and as supervisor of the papal decima in Tuscany.1988, Renaissance Studies, volume 2, page 195
    Synonyms:
    tenth
  2. (obsolete, generally obsolete) A tenth: a note nine degrees of the scale above or below a given note (and thus ten degrees separate counting inclusively) or the interval between such notes.
    Synonyms:
    tenth
  3. (generally obsolete) An organ stop a tenth above the normal 8-foot pitch.
    Synonyms:
    double-tierce, great-tierce

Noun (2)

decima (plural decimas)

  1. A 10-line verse or stanza, (chiefly) in the form of a song comprising an introductory verse followed by four such divisions.
    • His album... dealt with the song form of Puerto Rican back-country troubadours, and it had a preoccupation with... the décima, a 10-line stanza with specific rhyme schemes.2008 December 4, New York Times, C8

Proper noun capitalized: Decima

Decima

  1. (Roman) One of the three Fates, or Parcae, daughter of Jupiter and Justitia; the measurer of the thread of life. She is the Roman equivalent of Lachesis.

Synonyms of decima

Forms of decima

pluraldecimas
alternative formdécima

Origin of decima

Borrowed from Latin decima (“a tenth”), now particularly via Italian decima. Doublet of decim, decime, and dime.

Borrowed from Spanish décima, from Latin decima (“a tenth”). Doublet of decim, decime, and dime.

From Latin meaning "the tenth".

Questions about decima

What does decima mean?
Decima means a tithe or tax of one-tenth (now usually in historical Italian contexts).
What part of speech is decima?
Decima can be a noun or a proper noun.
How do you pronounce decima?
Decima is pronounced /ˈdɛsɪmə/.
What is the plural of decima?
The plural of decima is decimas.

Words near decima in the dictionary

  1. decillionfold
  2. decillions
  3. decillionth
  4. decillionths
  5. decim
  6. decima
  7. decimal
  8. decimal arithmetic
  9. decimal candle
  10. decimal candles
  11. decimal comma

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: decima (page history and authors); Decima (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Cite this entry: “decima.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/decima. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.