extermination
English edit
Etymology edit
Borrowed from Middle French extermination, itself a learned borrowing from Ecclesiastical Latin exterminātiō.
Pronunciation edit
Noun edit
extermination (countable and uncountable, plural exterminations)
- The act of exterminating; total destruction or eradication
- extermination of error or vice
- extermination of weeds from a field
- Depending on the case, extermination of a group of people may constitute genocide or crime against humanity.
- 1941 January, C. Hamilton Ellis, “The Scottish Station”, in Railway Magazine, page 3:
- Caley locomotive types, especially such numerous things as McIntosh goods and tank engines, have defied extermination over a good many years now.
- Elimination.
Synonyms edit
- (total destruction): excision
Derived terms edit
Translations edit
the act of exterminating
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French edit
Etymology edit
Learned borrowing from Ecclesiastical Latin exterminātiōnem. By surface analysis, exterminer + -ation.
Pronunciation edit
Noun edit
extermination f (plural exterminations)
Derived terms edit
Further reading edit
- “extermination”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.