'剔除' (tī chú) is a formal, transitive verb meaning 'to eliminate' or 'to remove'—especially something undesirable, unnecessary, or harmful from a larger set, system, or body. The character 剔 (tī) originally means 'to pick out carefully with a sharp tool', evoking precision and selectivity; 除 (chú) means 'to remove' or 'to get rid of', often with a sense of thoroughness or finality. Together, they emphasize deliberate, often systematic removal—not casual deletion, but purposeful excision.

This word appears frequently in official, medical, technical, or administrative contexts: removing faulty components from machinery, eliminating pathogens in sterilization procedures, deleting invalid data from databases, or expelling members from an organization for violating rules. It carries a neutral-to-negative connotation, implying the target is unwelcome or incompatible. While it can be used in everyday speech, it sounds more formal than common alternatives like 删除 (shānchú) or 去掉 (qùdiào).