extirpation

American  

[ek-ster-pey-shuhn] / ˌɛk stərˈpeɪ ʃən /

noun

1. Biology, Ecology. (of a species) the state or condition of having become locally or regionally extinct.

   Forest elephants in Central Africa have experienced a 65 percent reduction in their populations, and extirpation is imminent if the poaching rate persists.

2. Medicine/Medical. the removal or excision of a tumor, organ, etc..

   Minor controllable bleeding was the only noted complication associated with lymph node extirpation in two of the thirty-nine performed procedures.

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Etymology

Origin of extirpation

First recorded in 1540–50, for an earlier sense; extirpat(e) ( def. ) + -ion ( def. )

Explanation

Use the noun extirpation to describe the wiping out or elimination of some specific thing. If your summer project is the extirpation of the dandelions in your yard, you intend to pull up every last one. If a bird species is forced into extinction by a logging company cutting down trees in the rain forest, that activity can be said to have caused the birds' extirpation. The word is even more often used to talk about the deliberate removal of something, like one army's extirpation of every enemy soldier. The Latin root word, extirpationem, means "root out."

Example Sentences

The groups said the company’s taking of water has “caused the extirpation of native species and the destruction of riparian habitat — clearcut harm to the public trust.”

From Los Angeles Times • May 26, 2024

The tribe has watched salmon harvest decline by more than 80% in the past decades, and the unaddressed impacts of climate change are sending the salmon toward extirpation, Brimmer argued in the letter.

From Seattle Times • Feb. 22, 2024

Where species collapse does not occur, “climate change may result in large-scale mortality and population extirpation due to maladaptation of populations.”

From Scientific American • May 5, 2023

For decades, the penny has faced — and successfully fended off — calls for its extirpation.

From Washington Times • Apr. 20, 2023

This success, and the sight of the wide extent of heresy, led him to devote his life to its extirpation.

From A History of The Inquisition of The Middle Ages; volume I by Lea, Henry Charles