Radications

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. The act of removing or eradication of something harmful or undesirable
2. The process of rooting out, often in reference to plants or diseases
3. A term describing the elimination or destruction of a condition or negative influence

Etymology: The root of this word is Latin "radix," meaning "root," which also gave English "radish" and "radical." The Latin verb "radicari" meant "to take root," and the noun "radicatio" named that process. English "radication" keeps the sense of taking root and, in older mathematics, the extraction of a root from a number. The meaning you have in mind, removing something harmful, belongs to "eradication." That word adds the prefix "e-" ("out"), so it means to root something out, pulling it up from the ground. The two words are siblings: one describes a plant settling in, the other describes pulling it out. This plural form is therefore best read as the plural of "radication," not as the word for stamping out problems.