exterminate synonyms

exterminate

v.

annihilate, eradicate, abolish, extirpate, destroy, wipe out, slaughter, kill off; see also destroy 1, kill 1.

exterminate implies the complete, wholesale destruction of things or living beings whose existence is considered undesirable; extirpate and eradicate both suggest the extinction or abolition of something, extirpate implying destruction at the very source, often through the loss or removal of conditions necessary for survival, and eradicate connoting less violence and, often, the working of natural processes or a methodical plan

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