extirpate Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. verb destroy completely, as if down to the roots
    exterminate; uproot; root out; eradicate.
    • the vestiges of political democracy were soon uprooted" "root out corruption
  2. verb pull up by or as if by the roots
    uproot; deracinate; root out.
    • uproot the vine that has spread all over the garden
  3. verb surgically remove (an organ)

WordNet

Ex"tir*pate transitive verb
Etymology
L. extirpatus, exstirpatus, p. p. of extirpare, exstirpare; ex out + strips stock, stem, root.
Wordforms
imperfect & past participle Extirpated; present participle & verbal noun Extirpating
Definitions
  1. To pluck up by the stem or root; to root out; to eradicate, literally or figuratively; to destroy wholly; as, to extirpate weeds; to extirpate a tumor; to extirpate a sect; to extirpate error or heresy. Syn. -- To eradicate; root out; destroy; exterminate; annihilate; extinguish.

Webster 1913