Original Definition:
a ceremony attending the entering of Rome by a general who had won a victory of less importance than that for which a triumph was granted
Example:
"In ancient Rome an ovation was an inferior triumph accorded to victors in minor war or unimportant battle.... An enthusiastic demonstration in honor of an American civilian is nothing like that, and should not be called by its name." – Ambrose Bierce, Write It Right, 1909
About the Word:
Some people are of the opinion that the word decimate should properly only be used to refer to a punishment or event in which every tenth person is killed, since that is how the word was used by the ancient Romans.
Strangely enough, very few of these people likewise insist that ovation should be held to the same standard.
And there are other English words that are descended from Latin words of greatly different meaning: century once referred to 'a subdivision of the Roman legion,' and libertine in ancient Rome was used to refer to a freed slave.
