exterminate
verb /ɪkˈstɜːmɪneɪt/
/ɪkˈstɜːrmɪneɪt/
Verb Forms
| present simple I / you / we / they exterminate | /ɪkˈstɜːmɪneɪt/ /ɪkˈstɜːrmɪneɪt/ |
| he / she / it exterminates | /ɪkˈstɜːmɪneɪts/ /ɪkˈstɜːrmɪneɪts/ |
| past simple exterminated | /ɪkˈstɜːmɪneɪtɪd/ /ɪkˈstɜːrmɪneɪtɪd/ |
| past participle exterminated | /ɪkˈstɜːmɪneɪtɪd/ /ɪkˈstɜːrmɪneɪtɪd/ |
| -ing form exterminating | /ɪkˈstɜːmɪneɪtɪŋ/ /ɪkˈstɜːrmɪneɪtɪŋ/ |
- exterminate somebody/something to kill all the members of a group of people or animals synonym wipe out
- Fur seals were nearly exterminated a few years ago.
Word Originlate Middle English (in the sense ‘drive out’): from Latin exterminat- ‘driven out’, from the verb exterminare, from ex- ‘out’ + terminus ‘boundary’. The sense ‘destroy’ (mid 16th cent.) comes from the Latin of the Vulgate, the Latin version of the Bible prepared in the late 4th century.