Meaning & use
eradicate
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Meaning
verbtransitive
To get rid of something so completely that none of it remains, especially a disease, pest or social problem.
Grammar: Always takes an object: eradicate a disease.
Patterns
- eradicate something
- eradicate something from somewhere
Health workers hope to eradicate the disease within a decade.
The city launched a campaign to eradicate rats from the old market.
No government has ever managed to eradicate poverty entirely.
Word forms
| third person singular | eradicates |
|---|---|
| past tense | eradicated |
| past participle | eradicated |
| -ing form | eradicating |
Common combinations
- eradicate a disease
- Smallpox is the only human disease scientists have fully eradicated.
- eradicate poverty
- The charity's aim is to eradicate poverty in rural areas.
- completely eradicate
- It is difficult to completely eradicate weeds from a large garden.
- eradicate corruption
- The new mayor promised to eradicate corruption in city hall.
- virtually eradicated
- Polio has been virtually eradicated in most countries.
Synonyms and how they differ
- eliminate
- Eliminate is more general and can mean removing one item from a list, whereas eradicate suggests pulling out something deeply rooted.
- wipe out
- Wipe out is more informal and can describe sudden destruction, while eradicate sounds planned and thorough.
- stamp out
- Stamp out stresses forceful action against something spreading, while eradicate stresses that nothing is left.
- abolish
- Abolish is used for laws, systems and customs, not for diseases or pests.
Opposites
Word family
- eradication noun
- the complete removal of something
- eradicable adjective
- able to be completely removed
- ineradicable adjective
- impossible to remove or destroy
- eradicator noun
- a person or substance that removes something completely
Commonly confused: eradicate or eradiate?
eradicate vs eradiate
Eradiate is a rare word meaning to shine out or radiate. It looks similar but has nothing to do with removing things.
Practice
Which sentence uses eradicate correctly?
Choose one answer.
Eradicate means to remove something harmful completely, so a parasite fits. The other options use it for ordinary actions it cannot describe.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “eradicate”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.