Meanings
present singular third person extermines · participle present extermining · participle past extermined · past extermined
- nonstandardobsoletetransitiveTo exterminate (someone or something); to destroy.
VVherever ſorrovv is, relief vvould be. / If you do ſorrovv at my grief in love, / By giving love your ſorrovv and my grief / VVere both extermined.
c. 1598–1600 (date written), William Shakespeare, “As You Like It”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene v]1 more example
Without the instinct of self-preservation, which causes the sea-anemone to contract its tentacles, or the fish to dash into its hover, species would be extermined wholesale by involuntary suicide.
1874, Charles Kingsley, “Superstition. A Lecture Delivered at the Royal Institution, London.”, in Health and Education, London: W. Isbister & Co. […], →OCLC, page 234
Synonyms & antonyms
Origin
- Latinextermino
- Frenchexterminer
- Englishextermine
From French exterminer, from Latin extermino.
Full word history & related roots →Cite this entry
extermine. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/extermine
“extermine.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/extermine. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “extermine,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/extermine.
Source: extermine on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.