Adjacent Words

Exterminate definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

EXTERM'INATE, v.t. [L. extermino; ex and terminus, limit.]
Literally, to drive from within the limits or borders. Hence,
1. To destroy utterly; to drive away; to extirpate; as, to exterminate a colony, a tribe or a nation; to exterminate inhabitants or a race of men.
2. To eradicate; to root out; to extirpate; as, to exterminate error, heresy, infidelity or atheism; to exterminate vice.
3. To root out, as plants; to extirpate; as, to exterminate weeds.
4. In algebra, to take away; as, to exterminate surds or unknown quantities.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

v
1: kill en masse; kill on a large scale; kill many; "Hitler wanted to exterminate the Jews, Gypsies, Communists, and homosexuals of Europe" [syn: exterminate, kill off]
2: destroy completely, as if down to the roots; "the vestiges of political democracy were soon uprooted" "root out corruption" [syn: uproot, eradicate, extirpate, root out, exterminate]

Merriam Webster's

transitive verb (-nated; -nating) Etymology: Latin exterminatus, past participle of exterminare, from ex- + terminus boundary — more at term Date: 1591 to get rid of completely usually by killing off <exterminate termites and cockroaches> • extermination noun • exterminator noun Synonyms: exterminate, extirpate, eradicate, uproot mean to effect the destruction or abolition of something. exterminate implies complete and immediate extinction by killing off all individuals <exterminate cockroaches>. extirpate implies extinction of a race, family, species, or sometimes an idea or doctrine by destruction or removal of its means of propagation <many species have been extirpated from the area>. eradicate implies the driving out or elimination of something that has established itself <a campaign to eradicate illiteracy>. uproot implies a forcible or violent removal and stresses displacement or dislodgment rather than immediate destruction <the war uprooted thousands>.

Oxford Reference Dictionary

v.tr. 1 destroy utterly (esp. something living). 2 get rid of; eliminate (a pest, disease, etc.). Derivatives: extermination n. exterminator n. exterminatory adj. Etymology: L exterminare exterminat- (as EX-(1), terminus boundary)

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Exterminate Ex*ter"mi*nate, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Exterminated; p. pr. & vb. n. Exterminating.] [L. exterminatus, p. p. of exterminare to abolish, destroy, drive out or away; ex out + terminus boundary, limit. See Term.] 1. To drive out or away; to expel. They deposed, exterminated, and deprived him of communion. --Barrow. 2. To destroy utterly; to cut off; to extirpate; to annihilate; to root out; as, to exterminate a colony, a tribe, or a nation; to exterminate error or vice. To explode and exterminate rank atheism. --Bentley. 3. (Math.) To eliminate, as unknown quantities. [R.]

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

(exterminates, exterminating, exterminated) To exterminate a group of people or animals means to kill all of them. A huge effort was made to exterminate the rats... VERB: V n • extermination ...the extermination of hundreds of thousands of their countrymen. N-UNCOUNT: oft N of n, N n

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

v. a. 1. Extirpate, eradicate, uproot, annihilate, destroy, abolish, root out, put an end to. 2. (Math.) Eliminate.

Moby Thesaurus

abate, abolish, annihilate, bereave of life, blot out, bump off, butcher, carry away, carry off, cast off, chloroform, cut down, cut off, cut out, deprive of life, deracinate, destroy, dispatch, dispel, dispose of, do away with, do for, do to death, eliminate, end, eradicate, execute, extinguish, extirpate, finish, finish off, fling off, get rid of, immolate, kill, launch into eternity, liquidate, lynch, make away with, martyr, martyrize, massacre, murder, obliterate, poison, purge, put away, put down, put to death, put to sleep, remove, remove from life, root out, root up, rub out, sacrifice, shake off, shoo, slaughter, slay, stamp out, starve, sweep away, take life, take off, terminate, throw away, throw off, uproot, waste, weed out, wipe out