eradication

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   the complete removal or destruction of a disease, problem, practice, or other harmful thing

   Vaccination brought the country close to the eradication of polio.

2. 2
   noun

   the act of pulling a plant up by its roots

   Early eradication of the invasive weed prevented it from producing seeds.

Borrowed from Latin eradicatio, from eradicare ("to root out"), built from e- or ex- ("out") + radix, genitive radicis ("root"). The literal removal of a plant by its roots broadened into the complete elimination of diseases, practices, and persistent problems.

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