overwordExplorer
ENGLISH · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

extirpate.

To clear an area of roots and stumps.

9 characters3 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

verb/ˈɛkstəpeɪt/Received-Pronunciation/ˈɛkstɚpeɪt/General-American
  1. To clear an area of roots and stumps.

    obsolete · transitive
  2. To pull up by the roots; uproot.

    transitive
  3. To destroy completely; to annihilate.

    transitive
  4. To cause a population to go extinct in a particular region, but not across the entire range of the species or subspecies.

    The cougar was extirpated across nearly all of its eastern North American range in the two centuries after European colonization.
  5. To surgically remove.

    transitive
Where this word comes from

The verb is first attested in 1538, the adjective in 1541; borrowed from Latin exstirpātus perfect passive participle of exstirpō (“to uproot”), from ex- (“out of”) + stirps (“the lower part of the trunk of a tree, including the roots; the stem, stalk”) + -ō (verb-forming suffix) (see -ate (verb-forming suffix) and -ate (adjective-forming suffix)). Doublet of extirp. Common participial usage of the adjective up until Early Modern English.

adj
  1. Extirpated

    obsolete
  2. Rooted out, extinct, utterly destroyed.

    obsolete
Where this word comes from

The verb is first attested in 1538, the adjective in 1541; borrowed from Latin exstirpātus perfect passive participle of exstirpō (“to uproot”), from ex- (“out of”) + stirps (“the lower part of the trunk of a tree, including the roots; the stem, stalk”) + -ō (verb-forming suffix) (see -ate (verb-forming suffix) and -ate (adjective-forming suffix)). Doublet of extirp. Common participial usage of the adjective up until Early Modern English.

FROM WORD TO NAME

Try it on your idea.

extirpate has 9 characters. Say it out loud, try it alongside a description of your project, and see whether its meaning fits what you want to create.

extirpate studioextirpate workshello, extirpate

These are naming prompts. Meanings and pronunciation can vary; existing brand and domain uses have not been checked.

Explore the name generator

A word with a source.

Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.

Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.