English Reference
Verb

eradicate

v.
C1 Advanced US /ɪˈɹædəˌkeɪt/ UK /ɪɹˈædɪkˌeɪt/ erad·i·cate UK spelling eradicates, eradicating

v.to get rid of something completely so that it never comes back. You use this for things that are very bad, like diseases or poverty.

v.to destroy or remove something completely; to put an end to something undesirable. Often used in the context of public health, social issues, or pests.


SIMPLE

The government hopes to eradicate poverty within ten years.

CONTEXTUAL

Global health organizations worked together for decades to eradicate smallpox through a massive vaccination campaign.

COMPLEX

While the new policy aims to eradicate corruption within the local police force, critics argue that systemic changes are required to prevent the same patterns from re-emerging.

Usage

The verb is transitive and requires a direct object.

Pitfall
The disease was eradicated from the world.The disease was eradicated.

While 'from' is grammatically possible, 'eradicate' itself implies total removal, making 'from the world' redundant in most contexts.

Feral hogs will be nearly impossible to eradicate completely, and the damage they cause isn’t going away either.

The Conversation· 13 Aug 2026

In a bold pledge in his first speech as prime minister, Burnham promised to eradicate rough sleeping in England, allocating an extra £340m of funding over three years.

The Guardian· 11 Aug 2026

Etymology 1

PIE word *wréh₂ds From Middle English eradicaten (“to eradicate”), from eradicat(e) (“eradicated”, past participle of eradicaten) + -en (verb-forming suffix), borrowed from Latin ērādīcātus, the perfect passive participle of ērādīcō (“to uproot, root out; to anihilate, eradicate”), from ē- (“out”) + rādīx (“root”) + -ō (verb-forming suffix). See also radish.

Etymology 2

From Middle English eradicat(e) (“eradicated”, past participle of eradicaten), used up until Early Modern English, see -ate (adjective-forming suffix) and Etymology 1 for more.

Etymology adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

This entry
Origin Latin ērādīcātus
Level C1 · Advanced
Frequency Frequent
Updated