exterminate
Americanverb (used with object)
verb
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of exterminate
1535–45; < Latin exterminātus, past participle of extermināre to extermine; see -ate 1
Explanation
If your house becomes infested with cockroaches, mice, or even ants, you might have to exterminate them. It is certainly not a pleasant process, but often quite necessary. To exterminate means "to kill off or destroy completely." Notice that it includes the word terminate which means, “to end.” It is usually used in reference to insects or rodents, but also unfortunately in reference to people or groups of people. It is just a coincidence that this verb shares a syllable with termite — a bug that often has to be exterminated before it eats through the wood of your home.
Vocabulary lists containing exterminate
"The Devil and Tom Walker" by Washington Irving
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Persepolis
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Middle School: The Worst Years of My Life
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
“We are innately biased against outsiders,” writes David Livingstone Smith in his book “Less Than Human: Why We Demean, Enslave, and Exterminate Others.”
From New York Times • Jun. 14, 2023
Exterminate All the Brutes The documentary series concludes with two new episodes.
From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 7, 2021
Fans of Dr Who will know that the Daleks - catchphrase "Exterminate" - have, at some stage, had their own parliament and prime minister.
From BBC • Jan. 14, 2021
In It’s Time to Exterminate the Mouse, he argues that the omnipresent computer peripheral is clunky, imprecise and outdated: I’m so tired of mice.
From Forbes • Feb. 22, 2012
To Exterminate Roaches.—A housewife says that a few drops of turpentine sprinkled around where roaches gather will exterminate them at once.
From Mother's Remedies Over One Thousand Tried and Tested Remedies from Mothers of the United States and Canada by Ritter, Thomas Jefferson
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
