eradicate: M-W's Word of the Day

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The Word of the Day for February 14 is:

eradicate \ih-RAD-uh-kayt\ verb
1 : to pull up by the roots
*2 : to do away with as completely as if by pulling up by the roots

Example sentence:
Efforts to eradicate smallpox have been almost entirely successful.

Did you know?
Given that "eradicate" first meant "to pull up by the roots," it?s
not surprising that the root of "eradicate" is, in fact, "root."
"Eradicate," which first turned up in English in the 16th century, comes
from "eradicatus," the past participle of the Latin verb "eradicare."
"Eradicare," in turn, can be traced back to the Latin word "radix,"
meaning "root" or "radish." Although "eradicate" began life as a word for
literal uprooting, by the mid-17th century it had developed a metaphorical
application to removing things the way one might yank an undesirable weed
up by the roots. Other descendants of "radix" in English include "radical"
and "radish." Even the word "root" itself is related; it comes from the
same ancient word that gave Latin "radix."

*Indicates the sense illustrated in the example sentence.

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