eliminate
Americanverb (used with object)
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eliminates,
present (3rd person singular)
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eliminated,
past participle, past
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eliminating
present participle
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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
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to omit, especially as being unimportant or irrelevant; leave out.
I have eliminated all statistical tables, which are of interest only to the specialist.
- Antonyms:
- incorporate, admit, accept, include
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to remove from further consideration or competition, especially by defeating in a contest.
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to eradicate or kill.
to eliminate the enemy.
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Physiology. to void or expel from an organism.
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Mathematics. to remove (a quantity) from an equation by elimination.
verb
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to remove or take out; get rid of
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to reject as trivial or irrelevant; omit from consideration
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to remove (a competitor, team, etc) from a contest, usually by defeat
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slang to murder in a cold-blooded manner
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physiol to expel (waste matter) from the body
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maths to remove (an unknown variable) from two or more simultaneous equations
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
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eliminabilitynoun
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eliminantnoun
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eliminatornoun
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preeliminateverb (used with object)
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eliminableadjective
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eliminativeadjective
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noneliminativeadjective
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uneliminatedadjective
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well-eliminatedadjective
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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eliminatesimple
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eliminatessimple
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have eliminatedperfect
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has eliminatedperfect
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am eliminatingprogressive
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are eliminatingprogressive
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is eliminatingprogressive
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have been eliminatingperfect progressive
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has been eliminatingperfect progressive
Past
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eliminatedsimple
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had eliminatedperfect
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was eliminatingprogressive
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were eliminatingprogressive
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had been eliminatingperfect progressive
Future
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.
Vocabulary lists containing eliminate
Vocabulary from the Introduction to "Reality is Broken" by Jane McGonigal
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"The Civil Rights Movement"
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Words to Know Before You Defrost the Bird
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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:
“Lower wattage alone does not eliminate those risks,” Colleen O’Brien, a principal engineer at UL Solutions, said in a statement.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 27, 2026
The treatment is not suitable for every cavity, and stopping decay does not necessarily eliminate the need for future dental work.
From Science Daily ● Oct. 26, 2026
The Goliath Corp., meanwhile, yearns to eliminate Thursday and execute grandiose schemes of literary mischief.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 23, 2026
He and colleagues have since created a machine to help eliminate it from the water which he hopes he can make bigger and loan to councils.
From BBC ● Oct. 23, 2026
A lesser mind would have accepted defeat, since the odds were stacked against me, but the best military leaders always find ways to eliminate obstacles.
From "Liar, Liar" by Gary Paulsen
The Canada-European Union Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement, signed in 2016, eliminates import duties on 98 percent of products but has not been fully implemented.
From Barron's ● Oct. 26, 2026
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 setup saves some battery costs compared with full EVs and eliminates the need for gas-car parts like a transmission.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 6, 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
Turns out being on the surface of Mars for a few million years eliminates all the water in the soil.
From "The Martian" by Andy Weir
It has also acknowledged that "the risk of circumvention cannot be entirely eliminated", and some children would succeed in bypassing the age checks.
From BBC ● Oct. 29, 2026
The district called back some teachers it had let go and only dozens of positions were ultimately eliminated.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 28, 2026
County could be eliminated over a three-year period as a result of the takeover.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 26, 2026
"When we apply the model weights to historical simulations, we completely eliminated the positive bias," said lead author Crystal Fu, from Cambridge's Scott Polar Research Institute.
From Science Daily ● Oct. 26, 2026
When improvements in typewriters eliminated the problem of jamming, trials in 1932 with an efficiently laid-out keyboard showed that it would let us double our typing speed and reduce our typing effort by 95 percent.
From "Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies" by Jared M. Diamond
Common suggestions include eliminating the income-tax cap, raising the full retirement age, implementing new taxation avenues or altering the cost-of-living adjustment in an effort to boost revenue for the program.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 29, 2026
In China, the market for "legacy premium brands is in severe decline due to intense competition from new Chinese alternatives, basically eliminating profitability for legacy premium brands," the chief executive said.
From Barron's ● Oct. 23, 2026
Meanwhile, the Vision Zero plan introduced 11 years ago by then-Mayor Eric Garcetti, with a goal of eliminating traffic deaths with roadway design and safety improvements, has fallen far short.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 21, 2026
Because microglia perform essential protective functions, eliminating them is not an ideal long-term strategy.
From Science Daily ● Oct. 19, 2026
Solution: investment in machinery that moved slaughtered livestock from one place to the next, eliminating slowdowns.
From "A Few Red Drops: The Chicago Race Riot of 1919" by Claire Hartfield
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