Some Italian words are so similar to their English counterparts that you barely even need a translation. Take eliminare: it looks like “to eliminate,” it sounds like “to eliminate,” and yep, that’s pretty much what it means.
eliminare
But keep reading, because this verb has more nuances than you’d expect. The doctor might use it when telling you to cut sugar. You’ll hear it when nonna declares war on a wine stain. And if you follow Italian football, well, you’ve probably heard it in a much more heartbreaking context.
First, though, a bit of grammar. Eliminare is a regular verb, which means just straightforward, predictable endings. Here’s the simple present:
- Io elimino = I delete
- Tu elimini = You delete (singular)
- Lui/Lei elimina = He/She deletes
- Noi eliminiamo = We delete
- Voi eliminate = You delete (plural)
- Loro eliminano = They delete
In compound tenses, it takes the auxiliary avere (to have) and the past participle doesn’t change:
Ho eliminato tutti i social dal telefono.
I deleted all social media from the phone.
Now let’s explore all the ways you can use it in Italian.
1. Eliminare = To remove, to get rid of something
The most common meaning of eliminare in Italian is to remove something, as in, to take it away from wherever it currently is, without necessarily destroying it. You’ll hear Italians use it with all sorts of things, from physical objects to more abstract ones. And it often comes paired with the preposition da (from), which tells you what something is being removed from.
Il medico mi ha detto che devo eliminare i latticini dalla mia dieta.
The doctor told me that I need to cut out dairy from my diet.
See? Here we’re not destroying all dairy products in existence (that would be a tragedy!). We’re simply taking them out of our diet.
Alla fine abbiamo deciso di eliminare il pesce dal menù della festa.
In the end, we decided to remove the fish from the party menu.
Same idea here: the fish is still out there, it’s just no longer on the menu.
2. Eliminare = To delete, to destroy
Sometimes, removing something isn’t enough and we want it gone for good. Poof, it no longer exists! That’s the second meaning of eliminare: to permanently delete or destroy something.
You’ll hear this a lot especially in the digital world, where entire folders can vanish with one unfortunate click. Here’s a classic question I’m sure we’ve all desperately asked at least once:
Ho eliminato il file per sbaglio, come faccio a recuperarlo?
I deleted the file by mistake, how do I get it back?
But eliminare as “to delete” or “to destroy” is not just for the digital realm; it works just as well in the physical world:
Questo prodotto è favoloso per eliminare le macchie di olio.
This product is amazing for removing oil stains.
Hanno cercato di eliminare tutte le prove, ma fortunatamente non ci sono riusciti.
They tried to destroy all the evidence, but fortunately they didn’t succeed.
3. Eliminare = To knock out, to eliminate
In sports, eliminare means to knock a team or a player out of a competition. Not physically, of course; just by defeating them so they can no longer continue in the tournament.
This one hurts, but it’s a good example:
La Bosnia ha eliminato l’Italia dai Mondiali.
Bosnia knocked Italy out of the World Cup.
Here are a few more:
Sinner ha eliminato Djokovic in tre set ai quarti di finale.
Sinner knocked out Djokovic in three sets in the quarterfinals.
I padroni di casa hanno eliminato i campioni in carica con un gol all’ultimo minuto.
The home team knocked out the reigning champions with a last-minute goal.
4. Eliminare = To expel, to flush out
You know when you drink a lot of water and everyone tells you it’s good because it “flushes out toxins”? That’s eliminare in its medical and biological sense: the body naturally getting rid of substances it doesn’t need, like toxins and excess fluids.
I know, I know, it sounds a lot like meaning two. But there’s a subtle difference: in meaning two, the thing no longer exists, while here, nothing is being destroyed; the body is just expelling these substances through natural processes like sweating or other biological functions, well, best left unspecified.
Fare attività fisica aiuta a eliminare i liquidi in eccesso.
Exercising helps flush out excess fluids.
Bere molta acqua aiuta a eliminare le impurità dall’organismo.
Drinking a lot of water helps expel impurities from the body.
5. Eliminare = To kill, to get rid of someone
Last but definitely not least, eliminare can also mean to kill someone. Unlike the standard verb uccidere (“to kill”), which focuses on the act itself, eliminare focuses on getting rid of someone, almost like crossing a name off a to-do list.
Hanno eliminato l’informatore prima che potesse parlare con la polizia.
They eliminated the informant before he could talk to the police.
Hanno assunto un sicario per eliminare il testimone chiave dell’inchiesta.
They hired a hitman to take out the key witness in the investigation.
So now, when you’re watching an Italian crime thriller and you hear someone say dobbiamo eliminarlo (we need to eliminate him), you know they’re definitely not talking about kicking someone off the team!
Valentina Nicastro is a travel writer in love with her home country, Italy. Having travelled widely around the globe, she realised there was more to explore closer to home and decided to put the passport aside for a while. When she is not immersed in documenting Italy, you’ll find her donning her communication consultant hat, weaving words as a content writer and bridging linguistic divides as a translator.
