remove
Americanverb (used with object)
-
to move from a place or position; take away or off.
to remove the napkins from the table.
- Synonyms:
- dislodge
- Antonyms:
- leave
-
to take off or shed (an article of clothing).
to remove one's jacket.
-
to move or shift to another place or position; transfer.
She removed the painting to another wall.
-
to put out; send away.
to remove a tenant.
-
to dismiss or force from a position or office; discharge.
They removed him for embezzling.
-
to take away, withdraw, or eliminate.
to remove the threat of danger.
-
to get rid of; do away with; put an end to.
to remove a stain;
to remove the source of disease.
-
to kill; assassinate.
- Synonyms:
- murder
verb (used without object)
-
to move from one place to another, especially to another locality or residence.
We remove to Newport early in July.
- Antonyms:
- remain
-
to go away; depart; disappear.
noun
-
the act of removing.
-
a removal from one place, as of residence, to another.
-
the distance by which one person, place, or thing is separated from another.
to see something at a remove.
-
a mental distance from the reality of something as a result of psychological detachment or lack of experience.
to criticize something at a remove.
-
a degree of difference, as that due to descent, transmission, etc..
a folk survival, at many removes, of a druidic rite.
-
a step or degree, as in a graded scale.
-
British. a promotion of a pupil to a higher class or division at school.
verb
-
to take away and place elsewhere
-
to displace (someone) from office; dismiss
-
to do away with (a grievance, cause of anxiety, etc); abolish
-
to cause (dirt, stains, or anything unwanted) to disappear; get rid of
-
euphemistic to assassinate; kill
-
formal (intr) to change the location of one's home or place of business
the publishers have removed to Mayfair
noun
-
the act of removing, esp (formal) a removal of one's residence or place of work
-
the degree of difference separating one person, thing, or condition from another
only one remove from madness
-
(in certain schools) a class or form, esp one for children of about 14 years, designed to introduce them to the greater responsibilities of a more senior position in the school
-
(at a formal dinner, formerly) a dish to be changed while the rest of the course remains on the table
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
-
removabilitynoun
-
removernoun
-
preremoveverb (used with object)
-
removableadjective
-
removablyadverb
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
removesimple
-
removessimple
-
have removedperfect
-
has removedperfect
-
am removingprogressive
-
are removingprogressive
-
is removingprogressive
-
have been removingperfect progressive
-
has been removingperfect progressive
Past
-
removedsimple
-
had removedperfect
-
was removingprogressive
-
were removingprogressive
-
had been removingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of remove
First recorded in 1250–1300; Middle English verb remeven, remefen, remoeven, from Old French remouvoir, from Latin removēre; see re-, move
Explanation
You can remove your name from a list, remove a stain from a t-shirt, or remove old furniture from your house. Whatever it is, when you remove something, you take it somewhere else or get rid of it completely. The verb remove usually means taking something off or getting rid of something. For example, when you take off your coat, you remove it, or when you remove a skillet from the heat, you take it off the burner. Remove can apply to people: a law-breaking politician who is removed from office. As a noun remove indicates distance, such as being at one remove from your cousin, getting all his news from his mother.
Vocabulary lists containing remove
"Hitching a Ride"
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Workshop 3, Part 1
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Chapter 13: Manifest Destiny
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
A club may have up to five players on their discovery list at any time and can add or remove players.
From BBC ● Jul. 22, 2026
While salary-transparency laws don’t necessarily guarantee you’ll receive the highest possible salary, they do remove much of the guesswork from negotiations — and experts say that alone gives job seekers a stronger hand.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 22, 2026
Colonoscopy is still considered the gold standard because it allows doctors to identify cancer and remove precancerous polyps during the same procedure.
From Science Daily ● Jul. 22, 2026
Britain's new Prime Minister Andy Burnham on Tuesday kickstarted his programme to ease the cost of living for millions of Britons by planning to remove tax on household electricity bills.
From Barron's ● Jul. 21, 2026
Although a decontamination process could remove some of the radioactive isotopes from the water, it couldn’t clean all of it, so most of the wastewater was stored in tanks.
From "Meltdown" by Deirdre Langeland
Experts I talked to explained that such decline is the economic result of consolidation, which reduces competition and therefore removes incentives for movie studios to take creative risks.
From Salon ● Jul. 20, 2026
Then, the hosts explain how a new law–which removes an existing requirement for mobile-home construction–might help the affordable-housing crisis.
From Slate ● Jul. 18, 2026
AI's ability to conjure up speedy responses to all kinds of questions "removes learning opportunities" from users, said Carnegie Mellon University doctoral student Grace Liu, the article's main author.
From Barron's ● Jul. 15, 2026
"The way these treatments are presented on social media removes much of the perception of risk," she says.
From BBC ● Jul. 5, 2026
She removes the cards from their covering and places them atop the table.
From "The Night Circus" by Erin Morgenstern
The new listing was temporarily removed earlier this year due to a breach of the holiday website's terms and conditions, a spokesperson said.
From BBC ● Jul. 21, 2026
Retired catcher Jason Varitek, a franchise icon who won titles with Boston in 2004 and 2007, was also removed from his coaching role.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 21, 2026
In an interview with Le Parisien, the museum's president Christophe Leribault said the "collections and precious objects" that had been displayed earlier, had been removed.
From Barron's ● Jul. 20, 2026
Two of those engines need to be removed and replaced before another launch can be attempted.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 20, 2026
And since it had only recently been removed from the reactor, the fuel was hotter, too.
From "Meltdown" by Deirdre Langeland
By removing the usual scaffolding that renders human life intelligible, above all custom and language, the books ask what lies beneath.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 22, 2026
Creating a proton shuttle could enhance the process, while removing the shuttle could reduce or prevent it.
From Science Daily ● Jul. 22, 2026
Meanwhile, DRL’s remaining skeleton crew was tasked with removing trigger words from documents.
From Salon ● Jul. 21, 2026
Her proposed ascent to high office comes after Hungarian lawmakers last week passed an amendment removing Sulyok, whose last day in office was on Sunday.
From Barron's ● Jul. 20, 2026
“I took the liberty of removing my weapon from your forge!”
From Anya and the Dragon by Sofiya Pasternack
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.