vicesimation means The destruction of one-twentieth of something; especially, the killing or putting to death of every twentieth person, especially by lot. Lexicurio rates it Sui generis — a strength score of 87 out of 100.
Why this word is great
VICESIMATION — [Noun] The punitive culling of one in twenty from a group, chosen by lot. From the Latin vīcēsimus ("twentieth") + the English suffix -ation, on the pattern of decimation; compare the Latin vīcēsimātiō ("a killing of every twentieth man"). Unlike "decimation" (which denotes the annihilating removal of a tenth) or "vigesimal" (which neutrally describes a base-twenty counting system), vicesimation is a chilling refinement of terror, a more sparing but equally arbitrary sentence. It is the cooler, more bureaucratic cousin of the centurion's sword: the crisp rustle of twenty slips in a helmet, the dry-mouthed silence as the nineteenth man is passed over, the precise administrative checkmark beside one doomed name—a testament that the machinery of cruelty can be calibrated to any precision, and often runs on the grease of quiet calculation.
noun
- The destruction of one-twentieth of something; especially, the killing or putting to death of every twentieth person, especially by lot.“The common prisoners…were ordered to cast lots for every twentieth man to be tried, as a sort of vicesimation.”