exterminate
verb
Did you know?
Originally, to exterminate something was to banish it or drive it away. And it is this meaning that can be found in the Latin origin of "exterminate." "Exterminate" comes from "exterminatus," the past participle of exterminare, meaning "to drive beyond the boundaries." The Latin word exterminare was formed from the prefix ex- ("out of" or "outside") and "terminus" ("boundary"). Not much more than a century after its introduction to English, "exterminate" came to denote destroying or utterly putting an end to something. And that's the use with which the word is usually employed today.
Synonyms
Examples of exterminate in a Sentence
John Hopewell, Variety, 5 Nov. 2024
By the 1950s they were nearly exterminated on the continent.
—Emily Soreghan, Smithsonian Magazine, 17 Oct. 2024
Settlers, private militias and the U.S. troops carried out massacres across California, with the intent of exterminating the Native population.
—Calmatters, The Mercury News, 11 Oct. 2024
On the opposing side is a contingent of A.I. engineers who believe that their creations may soon become powerful enough to exterminate most of humanity.
—Charles Duhigg, The New Yorker, 7 Oct. 2024
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Cite this Entry
“Exterminate.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/exterminate. Accessed 22 Nov. 2024.
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exterminate
verb
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