English Dictionary |
EXTERMINATE
Pronunciation (US): | (GB): |
IPA (US): |
Dictionary entry overview: What does exterminate mean?
• EXTERMINATE (verb)
The verb EXTERMINATE has 2 senses:
1. kill en masse; kill on a large scale; kill many
2. destroy completely, as if down to the roots
Familiarity information: EXTERMINATE used as a verb is rare.
Dictionary entry details
Conjugation: |
Past simple: exterminated
Past participle: exterminated
-ing form: exterminating
Sense 1
Meaning:
Kill en masse; kill on a large scale; kill many
Classified under:
Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging
Synonyms:
exterminate; kill off
Context example:
Hitler wanted to exterminate the Jews, Gypsies, Communists, and homosexuals of Europe
Hypernyms (to "exterminate" is one way to...):
kill (cause to die; put to death, usually intentionally or knowingly)
Sentence frame:
Somebody ----s somebody
Sentence example:
They want to exterminate the prisoners
Derivation:
exterminator (someone who exterminates (especially someone whose occupation is the extermination of troublesome rodents and insects))
Sense 2
Meaning:
Destroy completely, as if down to the roots
Classified under:
Verbs of sewing, baking, painting, performing
Synonyms:
eradicate; exterminate; extirpate; root out; uproot
Context example:
root out corruption
Hypernyms (to "exterminate" is one way to...):
destroy; destruct (do away with, cause the destruction or undoing of)
Sentence frames:
Somebody ----s something
Somebody ----s somebody
Context examples
The males were exterminated, Ape Town was destroyed, the females and young were driven away to live in bondage, and the long rivalry of untold centuries had reached its bloody end.
(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
The question to be debated was, “whether the Yahoos should be exterminated from the face of the earth?”
(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)
Obviously, those supernovas were not close enough to exterminate life on Earth—but they were close enough to wrap our solar system in a bubble of hot gas that persists millions of years later.
(Evidence for supernovas near Earth, NASA)
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