exterminator
Americannoun
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a person or thing that exterminates.
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a person or business establishment specializing in the elimination of vermin, insects, etc., from a building, apartment, etc., especially by the controlled application of toxic chemicals.
Etymology
Origin of exterminator
From the Late Latin word exterminātor, dating back to 1605–15. See extermine, -ator
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.
One is the Jewish son of an exterminator who rose to Harvard; the other the cerebral product of a striving Black middle class.
From The Wall Street Journal • Oct. 27, 2025
He started out as an exterminator in New York City and has spent his life immersed in rats.
From BBC • Sep. 25, 2025
The department also said that its own inspection this week did not reveal any black worms, and that the jail maintains a contract with an exterminator.
From Los Angeles Times • Jun. 5, 2024
My husband called an exterminator, who agreed to come the next morning.
From New York Times • Apr. 30, 2024
I ran past the gym doors—“Can’t you go any faster?” from Coach Quatrini—and out into the parking lot, where the exterminator truck had pulled up to unload Sycorax and Caliban into their new cage.
From "The Wednesday Wars" by Gary D. Schmidt
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.
