Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- transitive verb To tear up by the roots.
- transitive verb To get rid of; eliminate: synonym: eliminate.
from The Century Dictionary.
- To pull up by the roots; destroy at the roots; root out; extirpate: as, to
eradicate weeds. - Hence To destroy thoroughly; remove utterly: as, to
eradicate errors or disease.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- transitive verb To pluck up by the roots; to root up.
- transitive verb To root out; to destroy utterly; to extirpate.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- verb transitive To
pull up by theroots ; touproot . - verb transitive To
completely destroy ; to put anend to; toextirpate .
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- verb destroy completely, as if down to the roots
- verb kill in large numbers
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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Thus, the term eradicate does not mean that we have achieved a true stopping (‘gog-bden) of positive karmic force directed toward that bodhisattva, such that we can never build up any more again.
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I would quickly make a pact with him to eradicate from the universe for all eternity all of the Pat Robertson, Oral Roberts, Billy Graham and television evangelist type of Christians.
Matthew Yglesias » Did Haiti Form a Pact With the Devil? 2010
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` ` He launched himself, that's something that we want to eradicate from the game.
USATODAY.com 2008
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You seem to be having a lot of trouble with the idea that something that we consider wrong — something that we detest, that we refuse to tolerate, that we consider evil, that we wish to eradicate from the universe, that violates our deepest feelings about the way things should be, that we can't imagine could ever be considered acceptable by a sane person — nevertheless is not thereby objectively immoral.
Carry-Over Thread 2007
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A magnetism prompted from beneath the belt, and which no military precaution, or experience, or solicitude for personal safety will eradicate from the canteen-bred soldier.
On the Heels of De Wet Lionel James 1913
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In so far as men do respect women, and not despise them, it seems to me that they respect them for exactly those qualities which they esteem in each other – and which, paradoxically enough, are for the most part exactly those qualities which they have done their best to erase and eradicate from the feminine character.
Marriage as a Trade 1909
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Philosophy alone can boast, (and perhaps it is no more than the boast of philosophy,) that her gentle hand is able to eradicate from the human mind the latent and deadly principle of fanaticism.
The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire 1206
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If we had some different people that didnt want to "eradicate" the deer herd, maybe we might be able to produce more high scale animals and have more of a fighting chance in protecting them.
Wisconsin Senator Demands Firing of State Deer Managers 2009
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If we had some different people that didnt want to "eradicate" the deer herd, maybe we might be able to produce more high scale animals and have more of a fighting chance in protecting them.
Wisconsin Senator Demands Firing of State Deer Managers 2009
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Mr. Dalton said he has been working since July to "eradicate" his Illinois holdings.
Bond Buyers' Eyes Are on Illinois Michael Corkery 2011
chained_bear commented on the word eradicate
"Name a shrub after me. Something prickly and hard to eradicate." --Captain Aubrey, "Master and Commander"
February 21, 2007