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发音：[ɪkˈstɜː(r)mɪneɪt]
例句：
- The word exterminate means to completely destroy or eliminate something or someone, usually to the point of extinction. When something is exterminated, it is completely removed or wiped out. This word is often used in the context of pest control or the elimination of harmful or unwanted organisms, but it can also be used in a broader sense to describe the elimination of anything that is considered undesirable or harmful.
- Although the initial colonists relied heavily on those birds for food, especially on New Zealand’s South Island, they were eventually exterminated on all the islands due to their susceptibility to hunting.
- The modern world is still influenced by the historical inequalities that led literate societies with metal tools to conquer or exterminate other societies.
- The asteroid impact that occurred millions of years ago is believed to have exterminated the dinosaurs, with its orbit being entirely determined by classical mechanics laws.
- The volcano’s eruption spewed molten rock, toxic gas, and debris, causing deadly avalanches that exterminated all life in its path.
- Many scientists believe that a volcanic event during a period 299-251 million years ago caused a crisis that led to the exterminating of around 90% of all species on the planet.
解释：
- Exterminate这个单词做动词使用，其表示“to kill off or destroy completely”这一含义，即“灭绝/根除/消灭/毁灭”，与destroy/eradicate/abolish这些单词构成近义词。
- 具体使用场景如下：
- Wolves once thrived across North America, but they were exterminated across most of the continental U.S. by the 1930s due to government-sponsored poisoning and bounty programs.（狼曾经在北美茁壮成长，但由于政府资助的毒害和赏金计划，到1930年代，它们在美国大陆的大部分地区被灭绝。）
–Science - The last significant Australian outbreak of the snail was in 1977 when 300 giant snails were exterminated in Queensland through an intensive eight-month campaign of community education, baiting, and snail collection.（澳大利亚上一次重大爆发蜗牛是在1977年，当时昆士兰州通过为期八个月的密集社区教育，诱饵和蜗牛收集运动消灭了300只巨型蜗牛。）
–Science - The existence of similar instincts for humans and chimpanzees, which involves exterminating other groups to safeguard food supplies or territory, implies that this urge to exterminate is deeply ingrained.（人类和黑猩猩存在类似的本能，包括灭绝其他群体以保护食物供应或领土，这意味着这种灭绝的冲动是根深蒂固的。）
–History - While some researchers think that a drop in temperature caused the disappearance of large creatures in the northern hemisphere 12,000 years ago, there is strong evidence that they were exterminated by hunting.（虽然一些研究人员认为温度下降导致12，000年前北半球大型生物的消失，但有强有力的证据表明它们被狩猎灭绝了。）
–Science - As hunters migrated southward through the Americas and encountered large animals that had never seen humans before, they found them easy to kill and may have exterminated them.（当猎人通过美洲向南迁移并遇到以前从未见过人类的大型动物时，他们发现它们很容易被杀死，并且可能已经灭绝了它们。）
–History
