But some consumer advocates questioned yesterday whether Citigroup was merely eliminating brokers who did not bring in much profitable business.

Merely eliminating New Jersey college teams from the pool, he said, was nothing more than "a cosmetic attempt to use geography as a cleansing agent."

Many cuts at Pilgrim merely eliminated bureaucratic waste and entrenched but unnecessary employees, they say.

So merely eliminating current racial discrimination might very well fail to eliminate the effects of past discrimination.

The delete function merely eliminated the links between the operating system and the hard-drive sectors.

The second strike merely eliminated the aural unit.

This merely eliminates one major component, the pinion gear.

Perhaps, in destroying our Cardassian captors, they were merely eliminating a competitor for the Hoard.

We look to be sure companies don't merely eliminate defects but that they are proactive and forward looking.

Instead of merely eliminating Member 9, a murderer had disposed of Member 10 as well.