ERADICATE

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does eradicate mean? 

• ERADICATE (verb)
  The verb ERADICATE has 2 senses:

1. kill in large numbers

2. destroy completely, as if down to the roots

  Familiarity information: ERADICATE used as a verb is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• ERADICATE (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they eradicate    ... he / she / it eradicates   
Past simple: eradicated   
Past participle: eradicated   
-ing form: eradicating   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Kill in large numbers

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

Synonyms:

annihilate; carry off; decimate; eliminate; eradicate; extinguish; wipe out

Context example:

the plague wiped out an entire population

Hypernyms (to "eradicate" is one way to...):

kill (cause to die; put to death, usually intentionally or knowingly)

Verb group:

decimate (kill one in every ten, as of mutineers in Roman armies)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s somebody
Something ----s somebody

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 "eradicate" is one way to...):

destroy; destruct (do away with, cause the destruction or undoing of)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Somebody ----s somebody

Derivation:

eradication (the complete destruction of every trace of something)

eradicator (someone who exterminates (especially someone whose occupation is the extermination of troublesome rodents and insects))

 Context examples 

This agent probably acts by increasing the clearing of intestinal contents, thereby eradicating tapeworm infections from the intestines.

(Dichlorophen, NCI Thesaurus)

Infected persons usually carry the infection indefinitely, unless treated with medications to eradicate the bacteria.

(Helicobacter pylori, NCI Thesaurus)

Cold contaminant-free iobenguane I 131 (MIBG) localizes to adrenergic tissue and may be used to image or eradicate tumor cells that accumulate and metabolize norepinephrine.

(Cold Contaminant-free Iobenguane I-131, NCI Thesaurus)

Clarithromycin has been shown to eradicate gastric MALT (mucosa-associated lymphoid tissue) lymphomas, presumably due to the eradication of tumorigenic Helicobacter pylori infection.

(Clarithromycin, NCI Thesaurus)

Medical or surgical interventions to eradicate breast tumors and/or their metastases.

(Breast Cancer Therapeutic Procedure, NCI Thesaurus)

This may increase and restore the proliferation and activation of various immune cells, including dendritic cells (DCs), natural killer (NK) cells, and T-lymphocytes, and may eradicate IDO-expressing tumor cells.

(Indoleamine 2,3-dioxygenase Peptide Vaccine, NCI Thesaurus)

In radiolabeled forms, iobenguane may be used to image or eradicate neuroendocrine tissues and tumor cells.

(Iobenguane, NCI Thesaurus)

They know our infantine dispositions, which, however they may be afterwards modified, are never eradicated; and they can judge of our actions with more certain conclusions as to the integrity of our motives.

(Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)

Permethrin is used to eradicate parasites such as head lice, ticks and scabies from humans and animals.

(Permethrin, NCI Thesaurus)

The mission of the NYU Cancer Institute is to discover the origins of human cancer and to use that knowledge to eradicate the personal and societal burden of cancer.

(NYU Cancer Institute, NCI Thesaurus)