exterminate

1. (transitive) To kill or otherwise permanently eliminate all of (a population of pests or undesirables), usually intentionally.Examples: "We'll use poison to exterminate the rats."; "The geth are a humanoid race of networked A.I.s. They were created by the quarians 300 years ago as tools of labor and war. When the geth showed signs of self-evolution, the quarians attempted to exterminate them. The geth won the resulting war. This example has led to legal, systematic repression of artificial intelligences in galactic society."; "Somewhat unsurprisingly, unleashing the most powerful navy on the planet with carte blanche to exterminate slavers on sight saw a dramatic and sudden collapse in slaver numbers in the late 1840s and early 1850s."Synonyms: annihilate, eradicate, extermine, uproottransitive

2. (figuratively, transitive) To bring a definite end to; to finish completely.Examples: "The public school failed to exterminate truancy."Synonyms: stamp outfigurativelytransitive