Origin: Latin suffix -ate
Eliminate has 8 different meanings across 1 category:
terminate, end, or take out
"Let's eliminate the course on Akkadian hieroglyphics"
"Socialism extinguished these archaic customs"
"eliminate my debts"
kill in large numbers
"the plague wiped out an entire population"
dismiss from consideration or a contest
"John was ruled out as a possible suspect because he had a strong alibi"
"This possibility can be eliminated from our consideration"
remove from a contest or race
"The cyclist has eliminated all the competitors in the race"
remove (an unknown variable) from two or more equations
"To solve for x and y, we need to eliminate one of the variables by adding the two equations together."
To completely remove, get rid of, put an end to.
"The new safety protocols were designed to eliminate all risk of accidents in the factory."
In plain English: To eliminate something means to completely remove or get rid of it so that it is no longer there.
"The new safety rules were designed to eliminate all risks in the workplace."
Usage: Use eliminate when you mean to completely remove something or put an end to it entirely. This word implies total eradication rather than just reducing the quantity or frequency of the item in question.
The word eliminate comes from the Latin eliminare, which originally meant "to turn out of doors" or "banish." It entered English with this sense of removing something by expelling it, derived from a root meaning threshold that is related to the modern words limit and limen.