Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- v. To tear up by the roots.
- v. To get rid of as if by tearing up by the roots: Their goal was to eradicate poverty. See Synonyms at abolish, eliminate.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- 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.
Wiktionary
GNU Webster's 1913
- v. To pluck up by the roots; to root up.
- v. To root out; to destroy utterly; to extirpate.
WordNet 3.0
- v. destroy completely, as if down to the roots
- v. kill in large numbers
Etymologies
- Middle English eradicaten, from Latin ērādīcāre, ērādīcāt- : ē-, ex-, ex- + rādīx, rādīc-, root; see wrād- in Indo-European roots.
Examples
“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.”
“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.”
“` ` He launched himself, that's something that we want to eradicate from the game.”
“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.”
“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.”
“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.”
“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.”
“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.”
“Mr. Dalton said he has been working since July to "eradicate" his Illinois holdings.”
“Osborne has vowed to "eradicate" the structural deficit over the life of a parliament.”
The Guardian: George Osborne's claims do not stand up to scrutiny
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘eradicate’.
-
Undo
A list of terms that denote separating one thing from another, or deconstructing a thing into its parts or to a former state. E.g., untie, divorce, unscramble.
untie, divorce, unscramble, disunite, disjoin, undo, separate, disassemble, uncouple, unhitch, disassociate, disaffiliate and 178 more...
-
I am : violent
Destructive verbs that speed up entropy. (Still working on definition of what I want; may add adjectives later.)
destroy, wreck, thrash, trash, beat up, annihilate, exterminate, disembowel, eviscerate, disintegrate, explode, bomb and 41 more...
chained_bear "Name a shrub after me. Something prickly and hard to eradicate." --Captain Aubrey, "Master and Commander" Feb 20, 2007