小词详解 | eradicate

eradicate 英 [ɪˈrædɪkeɪt] 美 [ɪˈrædɪkeɪt]

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外刊例句

• Smallpox was officially eradicated in 1980, and no one laments the fate of the virus that caused it; campaigns to save the virus that causes polio are thin on the ground.
  天花在1980年被正式消灭，没有人为天花病毒的命运哀叹；也没见人发起过什么运动拯救导致小儿麻痹症的病毒。
  ——《经济学人》
• Several days later, however, Clinton reversed himself again, saying it was more important to safeguard vital social programs than to eradicate the deficit in the relatively near future.
  数天后，克林顿的态度有了180度的转变，说保住重大的社会计划比在较短的时间内消除赤字更为重要。
  ——《时代周刊》

基本释义

[verb] destroy completely; put an end to
[动词] 彻底摧毁；终结

深入解读

Eradicate 一词源自拉丁语 eradicare （铲除、根除、消灭）的过去分词 eradicatus ，由前缀 e- （无；除去）+词根 radic （根）+后缀 -ate （做，造成，使）构成，15世纪初进入英语后也是用来表示“根除、杜绝、扫除”，多指彻底摧毁或消除疾病、腐败、贫穷、迷信等已经扎根或已经确立的不良事物，就像是杂草拔根一样完全去掉，常用搭配 eradicate sth (from sth) ，比如：

• 如果可以消灭那些单调乏味的工作，世界将会变得更加美好。
  If tedious tasks could be eradicated, the world would be a much better place.
• 政府声称正尽其所能根治腐败。过去几十年来他们的国家一直饱受政治腐败之苦。
  The government claims to be doing all it can to eradicate corruption. Their country has been afflicted by political corruption for decades.

名著用例

My fingers had fastened on her hand which lay outside the sheet: had she pressed mine kindly, I should at that moment have experienced true pleasure. But unimpressionable natures are not so soon softened, nor are natural antipathies so readily eradicated.
我紧握住她搁在被头外面的手。要是她和气地握一握我的手，此刻我会由衷地感到愉快，但是顽固的本性不是立刻就能感化的，天生的反感也并非轻易就能消除。

出自英国女作家夏洛蒂·勃朗特（Charlotte Brontë）创作的具有自传色彩的长篇小说《简·爱》（Jane Eyre）。

同近义词

• exterminate: destroy completely
• annihilate: destroy utterly; obliterate

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