extraction - Dictionary Definition : Vocabulary.com

Extraction is the action of removing something. For example, when the dentist yanks out your rotten tooth, the extraction is complete!

In addition to this wince-inducing meaning, the noun extraction is the process of separating out something from a chemical mixture or compound. Take decaffeinated coffee — the caffeine is removed by extraction, so you've got science to thank for not being jittery after breakfast. Extraction can also refer to your family background. If you are of Greek extraction, for example, your family history can be traced back to Greece.

PRIMARY MEANINGS OF: extraction

1	n	the action of taking out something (especially using effort or force)
2	n	properties attributable to your ancestry

FULL DEFINITIONS OF: extraction

1

n the action of taking out something (especially using effort or force)

“the dentist gave her a local anesthetic prior to the extraction”

Type of:: remotion, removal
the act of removing

n the process of obtaining something from a mixture or compound by chemical or physical or mechanical means

Types:: show 7 types...; hide 7 types...; decoction
(pharmacology) the extraction of water-soluble drug substances by boiling; dehydration, desiccation, drying up, evaporation
the process of extracting moisture; elution
the process of extracting one material from another by washing with a solvent to remove adsorbed material from an adsorbent (as in washing of loaded ion-exchange resins to remove captured ions); used to obtain uranium ions; infusion
the process of extracting certain active properties (as a drug from a plant) by steeping or soaking (usually in water); beneficiation, mineral dressing, mineral extraction, mineral processing, ore dressing, ore processing
crushing and separating ore into valuable substances or waste by any of a variety of techniques; freeze-drying, lyophilisation, lyophilization
a method of drying food or blood plasma or pharmaceuticals or tissue without destroying their physical structure; material is frozen and then warmed in a vacuum so that the ice sublimes; inspissation
the process of thickening by dehydration

Type of:: action, activity, natural action, natural process
a process existing in or produced by nature (rather than by the intent of human beings)

2

n properties attributable to your ancestry

Synonyms:: descent, origin

Types:: full blood
descent from parents both of one pure breed

Type of:: ancestry, derivation, filiation, lineage
inherited properties shared with others of your bloodline