erase

[ih-reys]

verb (used with object)

erased, erasing 

1. to rub or scrape out, as letters or characters written, engraved, etc.; efface.

   Synonyms: obliterate, expunge
   Antonyms: restore

2. to eliminate completely.

   She couldn't erase the tragic scene from her memory.

3. to obliterate (material recorded on magnetic tape or a magnetic disk).

   She erased the message.

   Antonyms: restore

4. to obliterate recorded material from (a magnetic tape or disk).

   He accidentally erased the tape.

5. Computers.,  to remove (data) from computer storage.

6. to exclude, replace, or refuse to recognize (the identity, experience, or contribution of a minority group or group member).

   Framing rape as a woman’s issue erases men’s accounts of sexual violence from public discourse.

7. Slang.,  to murder.

   The gang had to erase him before he informed on them.

verb (used without object)

erased, erasing 

1. to give way to effacement readily or easily.

2. to obliterate characters, letters, markings, etc., from something.

erase

/ ɪˈreɪz /

verb

1. to obliterate or rub out (something written, typed, etc)

2. (tr) to destroy all traces of; remove completely

   time erases grief

3. to remove (a recording) from (magnetic tape)

4. (tr) computing to replace (data) on a storage device with characters representing an absence of data

Other Word Forms

• erasable adjective
• erasability noun
• half-erased adjective
• nonerasable adjective
• unerasable adjective
• unerased adjective
• unerasing adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of erase¹

First recorded in 1595–1605; from Latin ērāsus (past participle of ērādere ), equivalent to ē- e- ¹ + rāsus “scraped”; raze

Word History and Origins

Origin of erase¹

C17: from Latin ērādere to scrape off, from _ex- ¹ + rādere to scratch, scrape

Synonym Study

See cancel.

Example Sentences

Painting the concrete would erase that life, she added.

From Los Angeles Times

When City beat Wolves 4-0 on the opening weekend of the season, it was natural to think the troubles that had plagued them last term had been erased over the summer.

From BBC

Any hope otherwise was erased soon after kickoff.

From Los Angeles Times

And these are only the most recent developments in a years-long push to erase the historical accounts of and literature by and about marginalized people.

From Salon

Long ago, he had erased any doubts about the life he still possessed in his surgically repaired arm.

From Los Angeles Times

Related Words

• abolish 
• delete 
• eliminate 
• expunge 
• negate 
• obliterate 
• wipe out