exterminate meaning and examples

2025-08-30

Meaning

Exterminate means to completely destroy or kill a group of people, animals, or things, especially when talking about pests, enemies, or harmful beings. It implies total elimination so that nothing remains.

Grammar and Usage

  • Part of speech: Verb (transitive)

  • Forms: exterminates, exterminated, exterminating

  • Sentence structure:

    • exterminate + object
    • Example: The company exterminated the termites in the house.

Common Phrases

  • Exterminate pests
  • Exterminate insects/rodents
  • Attempt to exterminate
  • Exterminate completely
  • Exterminate a species

Collocations

  • verb + exterminate: try to exterminate, attempt to exterminate, plan to exterminate
  • noun + exterminate: pest exterminator, extermination campaign
  • adverb + exterminate: completely exterminate, ruthlessly exterminate

Examples

  1. The soldiers were ordered to exterminate the enemy forces.
  2. We had to call a professional to exterminate the cockroaches in the kitchen.
  3. Some governments have tried to exterminate invasive species to protect native wildlife.
  4. The ancient empire attempted to exterminate its rivals.
  5. Chemical sprays are often used to exterminate weeds in farming.
  6. The landlord promised to exterminate the rats before we moved in.
  7. History has tragic cases where regimes tried to exterminate entire populations.
  8. A strong pesticide was used to exterminate the termites in the old building.
  • destroy
  • eradicate
  • annihilate
  • eliminate
  • wipe out
  • obliterate