eradication
Americannoun
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the complete removal, destruction, or erasure of something.
While I don't expect the eradication of poverty, I think that these social programs will have some positive impact.
Permanent eradication of an invasive species is time-consuming and often expensive.
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the act or process of pulling or digging up a plant by the roots.
Two other cocaine-producing nations have avoided use of chemical herbicides on coca crops, preferring manual eradication instead.
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of eradication
First recorded in 1540–50; from Latin ērādīcātiōn-, stem of ērādīcātiō, from ērādīcāre “to root out”; see eradicate ( def. )
Explanation
When people talk about the eradication of something, they are referring to its total destruction. Imagine a movie villain destroying a planet with a massive laser beam and you'll have the right idea. If a gardener's goal is the eradication of every single weed in his back yard, he might start by uprooting dandelions. Fittingly, the root of eradication is the Latin word for "uproot," ērādīcāre. The eradication of anything, whether it's disease, poverty, war, or weeds, involves removing every last trace of it, right down to the roots.
Vocabulary lists containing eradication
President Obama's Speech on the 50th Anniversary of the March on Washington
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"Ideas Live On" by Benazir Bhutto (2007)
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Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
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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.
Resuming his polio project after the war, he concluded by the early 1950s that eradication would only be achieved if transmission could be prevented through halting viral replication in the gastrointestinal tract.
From The Wall Street Journal • Jun. 21, 2026
"The next phase of the country's development will be the eradication of extreme poverty. That is one of his priorities," said one of Wadagni's close associates.
From Barron's • Apr. 12, 2026
Then in spring this year, cameras set up as part of the rat eradication programme caught two puffins coming and going from a nesting burrow on the cliff ledges.
From BBC • Nov. 13, 2025
Plan Colombia helped the economy and reduced violence overall, but it also displaced large numbers of people, and the drug eradication program was an environmental disaster.
From Salon • Oct. 21, 2025
One was the fire ant eradication program in the South; the other was the spraying for the Japanese beetle in the Midwest.
From "Silent Spring" by Rachel Carson
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.
