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exterminate

ex·ter·mi·nate

UK/ɛkˈstəː.mɪ.neɪt/ US/ɪkˈstəː.mɪ.neɪt/ fairly common

verb

1.

kill en masse; kill on a large scale; kill many

  • “Hitler wanted to exterminate the Jews, Gypsies, Communists, and homosexuals of Europe”
Synonyms
2.

destroy completely, as if down to the roots

  • “the vestiges of political democracy were soon uprooted”
  • “root out corruption”
Synonyms

Origin

Borrowed from Latin exterminātus, perfect passive participle of exterminō (see -ate (verb-forming suffix)), from ex- (“thoroughly”) + terminō (“to finish, close, end”), from terminus (“limit, end”) + -ō (verb-forming suffix).

Related words

Word family

Broader terms

WordNet 2.1 (Princeton University). Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. WordNet 2.1 Copyright Princeton University. All rights reserved. Wiktionary content is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike Licence.