get rid of

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get rid of (third-person singular simple present gets rid of, present participle getting rid of, simple past got rid of, past participle (UK) got rid of or (US) gotten rid of)

1. (transitive, idiomatic) To rid oneself of; to cause oneself to be free of or released from.

   Synonyms: abolish, discard, dismiss, drop, lose, remove, shed; see also Thesaurus:junk

   Over the weekend he spent some time getting rid of the clothes he no longer wears.

   I want to get rid of your influence over my life!

   • March 23, 1727, Alexander Pope, letter to Jonathan Swift

     to get rid of fools and scoundrels

   • 2008, BioWare, Mass Effect, Redwood City: Electronic Arts, →ISBN, →OCLC, PC, scene: Citadel after Sacrifice of the Council:

     Shepard: The Council was always holding us back. When I saw the opportunity to get rid of them, I took it.

   • 2024 April 3, Philip Haigh, “Discord over Avanti West Coast is part of a wider problem”, in RAIL, number 1006, page 52:

     Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham pulled no punches in March 20's Transport for the North board meeting in Leeds. He wants rid of Avanti West Coast. And he may yet get his way, although ministers in London are holding the line at the moment.

One is said to get rid of something unwanted or undesirable. The term is not neutral; it implies that the situation is improved by getting rid of that thing.

The term belongs to a less formal register than most of the synonyms listed above.

• be rid of