The DICT Development Group

  Extirpate \Ex"tir*pate\ (?; 277), v. t. [imp. & p. p.
     Extirpated; p. pr. & vb. n. Extirpating.] [L. extirpatus,
     exstirpatus, p. p. of extirpare, exstirpare; ex out + strips
     stock, stem, root.]
     To pluck up by the stem or root; to root out; to eradicate,
     literally or figuratively; to destroy wholly; as, to
     extirpate weeds; to extirpate a tumor; to extirpate a sect;
     to extirpate error or heresy.
  
     Syn: To eradicate; root out; destroy; exterminate;
          annihilate; extinguish.
          [1913 Webster]

  extirpate
      v 1: destroy completely, as if down to the roots; "the vestiges
           of political democracy were soon uprooted" "root out
           corruption" [syn: uproot, eradicate, extirpate, root
           out, exterminate]
      2: pull up by or as if by the roots; "uproot the vine that has
         spread all over the garden" [syn: uproot, extirpate,
         deracinate, root out]
      3: surgically remove (an organ)

  55 Moby Thesaurus words for "extirpate":
     abate, abolish, abscind, amputate, annihilate, ban, bar, blot, bob,
     clip, crop, cull, cut, cut away, cut off, cut out, deracinate,
     dock, eliminate, enucleate, eradicate, except, excise, exclude,
     exterminate, extinguish, isolate, knock off, liquidate, lop,
     mutilate, nip, pare, peel, pick out, prune, purge, remove,
     root out, root up, rule out, set apart, set aside, shave, shear,
     stamp out, strike off, strip, strip off, sweep away, take off,
     take out, truncate, uproot, wipe out