eliminate

American  

[ih-lim-uh-neyt] / ɪˈlɪm əˌneɪt /

verb (used with object)

• eliminates,
  present (3rd person singular)
• eliminated,
  past participle,  past
• eliminating
  present participle

1. 

   to remove or get rid of, especially as being in some way undesirable.

   to eliminate risks; to eliminate hunger.

   Synonyms:

   annihilate, exterminate, erase, eradicate, abolish, banish

   Antonyms:

   invite, get, obtain

2. to omit, especially as being unimportant or irrelevant; leave out.

   I have eliminated all statistical tables, which are of interest only to the specialist.

   Synonyms:

   exclude, except, delete, drop

   Antonyms:

   incorporate, admit, accept, include

3. to remove from further consideration or competition, especially by defeating in a contest.

4. to eradicate or kill.

   to eliminate the enemy.

5. Physiology. to void or expel from an organism.

6. Mathematics. to remove (a quantity) from an equation by elimination.

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eliminate British  

/ ɪˈlɪmɪˌneɪt /

verb

1. to remove or take out; get rid of

2. to reject as trivial or irrelevant; omit from consideration

3. to remove (a competitor, team, etc) from a contest, usually by defeat

4. slang to murder in a cold-blooded manner

5. physiol to expel (waste matter) from the body

6. maths to remove (an unknown variable) from two or more simultaneous equations

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Usage

Eliminate is sometimes wrongly used to talk about avoiding the repetition of something undesirable: we must prevent (not eliminate ) further mistakes of this kind

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• eliminability
  noun
• eliminant
  noun
• eliminator
  noun
• preeliminate
  verb (used with object)
• eliminable
  adjective
• eliminative
  adjective
• noneliminative
  adjective
• uneliminated
  adjective
• well-eliminated
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Participles

• eliminating
  present
• eliminated
  past

Conjugated Forms

Present

• eliminate
  simple
• eliminates
  simple
• have eliminated
  perfect
• has eliminated
  perfect
• am eliminating
  progressive
• are eliminating
  progressive
• is eliminating
  progressive
• have been eliminating
  perfect progressive
• has been eliminating
  perfect progressive

Past

• eliminated
  simple
• had eliminated
  perfect
• was eliminating
  progressive
• were eliminating
  progressive
• had been eliminating
  perfect progressive

Future

• will eliminate
  simple
• will have eliminated
  perfect
• will be eliminating
  progressive
• will have been eliminating
  perfect progressive

Etymology

Origin of eliminate

First recorded in 1560–70 and in 1915–20 eliminate for def. 4; from Latin ēlīminātus “turned out of doors” (past participle of ēlīmināre ), equivalent to ē- “from, out of” + līmin-, stem of līmen “threshold” + -ātus adjective suffix; see e- ¹, -ate ¹

Explanation

As eliminate means "get rid of or do away with," it has become used to refer to the end of a problem or even an entire species. We need to eliminate sources of pollution in order to maintain a healthy world. The original literal meaning of eliminate was "to thrust over the threshold and out of doors, to kick out," but the 18th century saw the word expand to mean "to exclude," and later to ridding the body of waste. The verb then came to refer to getting rid of anything, such as a problem or foul odor. The word took an ominous turn in the 20th century, when we saw man-made pollution eliminate whole species, and war, hate, and famine nearly eliminate whole groups of people.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

eliminate eliminates eliminated eliminating

The small-estate procedure does not simply eliminate the need to deal with real estate, and you already have that sewn up.

From MarketWatch ● Sep. 27, 2026

“When you get to the postseason, they’re going to try to eliminate Shohei and try to make other guys beat you,” Roberts said.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 26, 2026

But that will not eliminate public anxieties, on either issue.

From BBC ● Sep. 25, 2026

These treatments are designed to selectively eliminate senescent cells while leaving healthier cells largely intact.

From Science Daily ● Sep. 23, 2026

She’d gotten Kelli to eliminate one of her own.

From "The House of Hades" by Rick Riordan

One of the main ways the body eliminates unwanted cells is through apoptosis, a carefully controlled form of cellular "suicide."

From Science Daily ● Sep. 18, 2026

The company said the board was “fully apprised” of the litigation and looks forward to a resolution that eliminates the uncertainty.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 30, 2026

A sausage-and-pepper meal starter eliminates most of the chopping; canned tomatoes provide the sauce’s backbone; and a few spoonfuls of prepared sun-dried tomato pesto pull everything into focus.

From Salon ● Aug. 25, 2026

The company ranks suppliers by their flexibility and ability to deliver urgent orders, and regularly eliminates the poorest performers, according to a 2021 Zhongtai Securities report.

From Barron's ● Aug. 24, 2026

That eliminates gorillas and elephants, even though they are vegetarians with admirably nonfinicky food preferences and represent a lot of meat.

From "Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies" by Jared M. Diamond

Now, a new experiment supported by FQxI has eliminated one prominent explanation involving gravity.

From Science Daily ● Sep. 21, 2026

Next up in the prediction markets, a two-bet parlay: Dodgers are eliminated early in the playoffs and Walter sells his stake in the team, with the over/under for his profit set at $8 billion.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 19, 2026

The United Kingdom was considered to have eliminated the disease altogether but lost that status this year.

From BBC ● Sep. 17, 2026

The rapid spread illustrates a new normal in the U.S., where falling vaccination rates have made more communities vulnerable to the highly infectious disease that the country declared eliminated more than 25 years ago.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 13, 2026

Zero and infinity had destroyed the Arisotelian philosophy; the void and the infinite cosmos had eliminated the nutshell universe and the idea of nature’s abhorrence of the vacuum.

From "Zero: The Biography of a Dangerous Idea" by Charles Seife

Plans also call for eliminating teacher-student staff ratios, defaulting caps to the licensing requirements of each state.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 24, 2026

Ellison has also promised $6 billion in synergies from the merger, which could come from consolidating tech operations at the streaming services and by eliminating overlapping jobs.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 22, 2026

Anthropic’s head of alignment science, Evan Hubinger, echoed that sentiment, posting on X that he sees a “greater than 10% chance” of AI eliminating humanity within the decade.

From MarketWatch ● Sep. 19, 2026

Other research groups have also shown that eliminating PRX3 in healthy mice does not produce adverse effects.

From Science Daily ● Sep. 17, 2026

He classified the lines he studied into stratifications of importance, always eliminating the not-quite-perfect continuation and seeking what he called the “true move,” that which could not be refuted.

From "Endgame" by Frank Brady

Related Words

• cancel
• defeat
• dispose of
• disqualify
• eradicate
• erase
• exclude
• get rid of
• ignore
• knock out
• oust
• phase out
• stamp out
• waive
• wipe out