extirpation

American  

[ek-ster-pay-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. )

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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

See Examples For:

extirpation

The Golden State’s gray wolves were hunted and trapped to extirpation a century ago.

From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 30, 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

Gray seals previously on the brink of extirpation in waters of New England now occupy some Massachusetts beaches by the hundreds.

From Washington Post ● Aug. 12, 2022

Capons have ever been esteemed among the greatest delicacies of the table; and are made by the extirpation of the reproductive organs in male fowls.

From Sheep, Swine, and Poultry Embracing the History and Varieties of Each; The Best Modes of Breeding; Their Feeding and Management; Together with etc. by Robert Jennings

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