exterminator
Americannoun
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a person or thing that exterminates.
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a person or business establishment specializing in the elimination of vermin, insects, etc., from a building, apartment, etc., especially by the controlled application of toxic chemicals.
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of exterminator
From the Late Latin word exterminātor, dating back to 1605–15. See extermine, -ator
Vocabulary lists containing exterminator
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.
One is the Jewish son of an exterminator who rose to Harvard; the other the cerebral product of a striving Black middle class.
From The Wall Street Journal • Oct. 27, 2025
He started out as an exterminator in New York City and has spent his life immersed in rats.
From BBC • Sep. 25, 2025
“Bees are still wild animals” but nothing to call an exterminator for, Durboraw said.
From Los Angeles Times • Aug. 14, 2024
A man posing as a pest exterminator tried to gain access to a San Diego hotel that operates as a shelter for migrant families.
From New York Times • Jun. 2, 2024
Another pawned her sewing machine and summoned an exterminator.
From "Interpreter of Maladies" by Jhumpa Lahiri
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
