eliminate (v.)

1560s, "to thrust out, remove, throw out of doors," from Latin eliminatus, past participle of eliminare "thrust out of doors, expel," from ex limine "off the threshold," from ex "off, out" (see ex-) + limine, ablative of limen "threshold" (see limit (n.)).

Used literally at first; the sense of "exclude, throw aside, or disregard as undesirable or unnecessary" is attested by 1714; the sense of "expel waste from the body" is by c. 1795. Related: Eliminated; eliminating; eliminative; eliminatory.

also from 1560s

Entries linking to eliminate

limit (n.)

c. 1400, "boundary, frontier," from Old French limite "a boundary," from Latin limitem (nominative limes) "a boundary, limit, border, embankment between fields," which is probably related to limen "threshold," and possibly from the base of limus "transverse, oblique," which is of uncertain origin. Originally of territory; general sense from early 15c. Colloquial sense of "the very extreme, the greatest degree imaginable" is from 1904.

elimination (n.)

c. 1600, "a casting out," noun of action from eliminate. Meaning "expulsion of waste matter" is from 1855.

ex-

word-forming element, in English meaning usually "out of, from," but also "upwards, completely, deprive of, without," and "former;" from Latin ex "out of, from within; from which time, since; according to; in regard to," from PIE *eghs "out" (source also of Gaulish ex-, Old Irish ess-, Old Church Slavonic izu, Russian iz). In some cases also from Greek cognate ex, ek. PIE *eghs had comparative form *eks-tero and superlative *eks-t(e)r-emo-. Often reduced to e- before -b-, -d-, -g-, consonantal -i-, -l-, -m-, -n-, -v- (as in elude, emerge, evaporate, etc.).

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adapted from books.google.com/ngrams/. Ngrams are probably unreliable.

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obviate

1590s, "to meet and dispose of, clear (something) out of the way," from Late Latin obviatus, past participle of obviare "act contrary to, go against," from Latin obvius "that is in the way, that moves against," from obviam (adv.) "in the way," from ob "in front of, against" (see

eradicate

early 15c., "destroy utterly," literally "pull up by the roots," from Latin eradicatus, past participle of eradicare "root out, extirpate, annihilate," from assimilated form of ex "out" (see ex-) + radix (genitive radicis) "root" (from PIE root *wrād- "branch, root"). Related: Er

decimate

c. 1600, "to select by lot and put to death every tenth man," from Latin decimatus, past participle of decimare "the removal or destruction of one-tenth," from decem "ten" (from PIE root *dekm- "ten"). The killing of one in ten, chosen by lots, from a rebellious city or a mutinou

tune

Tune out "eliminate radio reception" is recorded from 1908; figurative sense of "disregard, stop heeding" is from 1928....

quench

quenchen, "to extinguish, put out" (heat, light, fire, also of desire, hunger, thirst), also figurative, "to bring to naught, eliminate...

accentuate

You've got to accentuate the positive Eliminate the negative Latch on to the affirmative Don't mess with Mister In-Between...

newspaper

rendering of some of the things we have heard about in the past twenty-four hours — distorted, despite our best efforts to eliminate...

obliterate

"blot out, cause to disappear, remove all traces of, wipe out," c. 1600, from Latin obliteratus, past participle of obliterare "cause to disappear, blot out (a writing), erase, efface," figuratively "cause to be forgotten, blot out a remembrance," from ob "against" (see ob-) + li

void

c. 1300, "unoccupied, vacant," from Anglo-French and Old French voide, viude "empty, vast, wide, hollow, waste, uncultivated, fallow," as a noun, "opening, hole; loss," from Latin vocivos "unoccupied, vacant," related to vacare "be empty," from PIE *wak-, extended form of root *e

take

Middle English taken, from late Old English tacan "to grip, seize by force, lay hold of," from a Scandinavian source (such as Old Norse taka "take, grasp, lay hold," past tense tok, past participle tekinn; also compare Swedish ta, past participle tagit). This is reconstructed to

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updated on September 16, 2020

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Dictionary entries near eliminate

elide

eligibility

eligible

Elihu

Elijah

eliminate

elimination

Eliot

Elisha

elision

elite