Remove

Part of speech: verb

Pronunciation: /ɹɪˈmuːv/

Definitions

1. To take something away from a place or person or eliminate it completely
2. To cause something to no longer be present or to be separated from where it was
3. To withdraw, get rid of, or clear something from a location or situation

Etymology: The verb "remove" is a close cousin of "move," and the two share a Latin ancestor, "movēre," meaning "to move." Latin speakers combined that verb with the prefix "re-," which meant "back" or "away," to form "removēre," literally "to move back" or "to move away." That sense of physically shifting something from one spot to another stayed at the heart of the word as it travelled through Old French and Anglo-Norman before reaching Middle English as "removen." The most striking detail is what English lost along the way. Before French influence arrived, English already had its own word for this idea, the Old English "āfierran," meaning roughly "to carry away." Middle English speakers adopted "removen" and it gradually pushed the native verb out of use. Today "remove" covers a range of meanings, from lifting a coat off a hook to eliminating a stain or a problem entirely, all traceable to that original notion of moving something away.

Synonyms: eliminate, extract, withdraw, dispose, separate

Antonyms: add, insert, include