Eradicate

//ɪˈɹæd.ɪ.keɪt// verb

verb ·Common ·High school level

Definitions

Verb
  1. 1
    To pull up by the roots. transitive
  2. 2
    eradicated obsolete, participle
  3. 3
    kill in large numbers wordnet
  4. 4
    To destroy completely; to reduce to nothing radically; to put an end to. transitive

    "Near-synonyms: delete, erase"

  5. 5
    destroy completely, as if down to the roots wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms
uprootuprootannihilateannihilateeliminateeliminate

Example

More examples

"We shall continue our efforts to eradicate racial discrimination."

Etymology

Etymology 1

PIE word *wréh₂ds From Middle English eradicaten (“to eradicate”), from eradicat(e) (“eradicated”, past participle of eradicaten) + -en (verb-forming suffix), borrowed from Latin ērādīcātus, the perfect passive participle of ērādīcō (“to uproot, root out; to anihilate, eradicate”), from ē- (“out”) + rādīx (“root”) + -ō (verb-forming suffix). See also radish.

Etymology 2

From Middle English eradicat(e) (“eradicated”, past participle of eradicaten), used up until Early Modern English, see -ate (adjective-forming suffix) and Etymology 1 for more.

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.