What does eliminate mean?
To eliminate is to remove something entirely and deliberately, especially something regarded as undesirable. The word carries a sense of thoroughness: when you eliminate a problem, a risk, or an error, you aim to make it disappear completely rather than merely reduce it. It appears frequently in formal contexts such as science, politics, business, and medicine — governments seek to eliminate poverty, engineers eliminate defects, and doctors work to eliminate disease. The verb also has a well-established sporting use: a team or player that loses a knockout match is eliminated from the competition. A further, more technical sense exists in physiology and chemistry, where elimination refers to the discharge of waste from an organism or system. Derived forms include elimination, eliminator, and the adjectives eliminative and eliminatory. Stronger and more final than 'remove', eliminate conveys decisive action, which helps explain its popularity in goal-setting language and official discourse alike.
verbTo completely remove or get rid of something, especially something unwanted or unnecessary. In sports and competitions, to defeat a team or player so that they can no longer take part.
- To completely remove or get rid of something unwanted.
- To defeat a competitor so they can no longer participate in a contest.
- (Physiology/chemistry) To discharge waste matter from the body or a system.
"The new policy aims to eliminate waste across every department."
"The vaccine helped eliminate smallpox as a public health threat."
"Defending champions were eliminated in the first round of the tournament."
Eliminate comes from the Latin for 'to put out of doors' — literally kicking something over the threshold.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Etymology of eliminate
Eliminate derives from the Latin 'eliminare', meaning 'to turn out of doors' or 'expel', formed from 'e-' (out of) and 'limen' (threshold). The image behind the original word is vividly literal: pushing something out past the doorway of a house. It entered English in the early 16th century, initially carrying the Latin sense of expulsion, before developing its modern senses of removal and competitive defeat. Cognates sharing the same Latin root include 'limit', 'preliminary', and 'subliminal', all of which relate to the idea of a threshold or boundary.
Related word forms
How eliminate is actually used
Common in formal, scientific, and administrative registers. Often implies thoroughness and finality — stronger than simply 'removing' something. In sports contexts it typically appears in passive constructions ('was eliminated').
Easily confused with eliminate
Eradicate suggests destroying something rooted or established (like a disease), while eliminate is a more general term for removing anything unwanted.
Illuminate means to light up or clarify, whereas eliminate means to remove — they look similar but are near-opposites in meaning.