eliminate

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eliminate

/ɪˈlɪm.ɪ.neɪt/ UK
/ɪˈlɪm.ɪ.neɪt/ US
/ɪˈlɪm.ə.neɪt/ US
/iˈlɪm.ɪ.neɪt/ US
/iˈlɪm.ə.neɪt/ US
/əˈlɪm.ə.neɪt/
/əˈlɪm.ɪ.næɪt/ Australia

Where it comes from

Borrowed from Latin ēlīminātus, perfect passive participle of ēlīminō (“to turn out of doors, banish”), from ē- + līmen (“a threshold”, līmin- in compounds) + -ō (first conjugation verb-forming suffix) (see -ate (verb-forming suffix)), akin to Latin līmes (“a boundary”); see also English limit and limen.

verb eliminates · eliminating · eliminated

transitive To completely remove, get rid of, put an end to. The air-handling equipment humidifies, dehumidifies, and distributes the correct amount of fresh air into every zone and eliminates all smoke, dust, and odors, with electric precipitrons.
Similar: abrogate, abolish, erase, destroy, annihilate, aerosolize, atomize, benothing, bewreck, blot out, blotto, dash
transitive To render (a facility) unusable, to destroy it; to disable (a soldier), make them unable to fight (typically but not necessarily by killing)
Similar: neutralize
slang, transitive To kill (a person or animal). a ruthless mobster who eliminated his enemies
ambitransitive To excrete (waste products). In one study, 65.8% of the cat owners relinquishing a cat thought that their cat eliminated outside the litter box or destroyed furniture to spite them.
Similar: break the seal, hit the head, micturate, pass water, pee, piddle, piss, slash, take a leak, take a piss, take a whiz, tinkle
transitive To exclude (from investigation or from further competition). Bill was eliminated as a suspect when the police interviewed witnesses.
To record amounts in a consolidation statement to remove the effects of inter-company transactions.

Thesaurus

Closest in meaning: annihilate, wipe out, eradicate, extinguish, evacuate, carry off, obviate, reject, pass, empty, void, rule out, egest, excrete, decimate, rid of

Translations

Every language

verb completely destroy

Español	eliminar
日本語	除去する jokyo-suru
中文	消滅 /消灭 xiāomiè, 消除 xiāochú, 根除 gēnchú
Português	eliminar
Français	éliminer
Deutsch	eliminieren, zerstören
Italiano	eliminare
Русский	ликвиди́ровать likvidírovatʹ

verb kill

한국어	제거하다 jegeohada
日本語	抹殺する massatsu-suru, 殺す koro-su, 殺害する satsugai-suru
中文	抹殺 /抹杀 mǒshā, 除掉 chúdiào, 殺 /杀 shā
Français	tuer
Deutsch	umbringen, eliminieren, beseitigen
Italiano	eliminare
Ελληνικά	καθαρίζω katharízo, σκοτώνω skotóno
Русский	ликвиди́ровать likvidírovatʹ, уничтожа́ть uničtožátʹ, уничто́жить uničtóžitʹ

verb excrete

中文	排出 páichū

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Cite this

MLA

"eliminate." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/eliminate. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026.

APA

eliminate. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/eliminate

Chicago

"eliminate." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/eliminate.

BibTeX

@misc{eliminate_2026,
  title = {eliminate},
  howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://micwyn.com/word/eliminate},
  urldate = {2026-11-06}
}