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Synonyms

exterminator

American  
[ik-stur-muh-ney-ter] / ɪkˈstɜr məˌneɪ tər /

noun

  • exterminators
    plural
  1. a person or thing that exterminates.

  2. 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.


Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

Etymology

Origin of exterminator

From the Late Latin word exterminātor, dating back to 1605–15. See extermine, -ator

Vocabulary lists containing exterminator

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.

See Examples For:

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

“Bees are still wild animals” but nothing to call an exterminator for, Durboraw said.

From Los Angeles Times Aug. 14, 2024

He didn’t pursue acting full time until he was in his 40s, working for a time as an exterminator.

From Seattle Times Dec. 24, 2023

"I've got an exterminator coming in tomorrow to do another set of sprays," he told the BBC on Friday.

From BBC Oct. 7, 2023

“My lawyer tells me that the exterminator is required by law to either post a guard or to arrange for guards to patrol around the houses that are tented.”

From "Tangerine" by Edward Bloor

The association added that when hotels encounter bedbugs, guests are relocated and exterminators are called, in accordance with health and safety guidelines.

From Los Angeles Times Feb. 20, 2024

In the game description, it says players - who take on the roles of exterminators - are tasked with treating "mysterious infestations caused by twisted versions of classic characters and urban legends".

From BBC Jan. 2, 2024

Germany survived, grew, thrived; Germans carried on; the world had little use for those who wished to dwell on the extermination of European Jews, or for how to deal with the exterminators themselves.

From Slate Nov. 30, 2023

Witchers are this world's exterminators except the vermin they hunt are deadly creatures from another sphere of existence.

From Salon Jul. 8, 2023

The German cockroach throughout much of North America has become resistant to chlordane, once the favorite weapon of exterminators who have now turned to the organic phosphates.

From "Silent Spring" by Rachel Carson

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