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

Last year, the Commission and the state Senate passed resolutions recognizing the centennial anniversary of the extirpation of the California grizzly, with the Senate declaring 2024 the “Year of the Grizzly.”

From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 15, 2025

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

The magnificent ramshorn is endemic to the lower Cape Fear River Basin, and lived in three captive populations in North Carolina since 2004 following its extirpation from the wild, according to the wildlife commission.

From Washington Times • Nov. 21, 2023

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

This refuge should give protection to the beaver—a rare animal in M�xico and in danger of extirpation over all the country.

From The Recent Mammals of Tamaulipas, Mexico by Alvarez, Ticul