obliterate

English

Etymology

Learned borrowing from Latin oblitterātus, perfect passive participle of oblitterō (blot out).

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /əbˈlɪtəɹeɪt/
  • (file)

Verb

obliterate (third-person singular simple present obliterates, present participle obliterating, simple past and past participle obliterated)

  1. To remove completely, leaving no trace; to wipe out; to destroy.
    Synonyms: see Thesaurus:destroy
    • 1876, William Black, Madcap Violet:
      The harsh and bitter feelings of this or that experience are slowly obliterated.
    • 1907 August, Robert W[illiam] Chambers, chapter VIII, in The Younger Set, New York, N.Y.: D. Appleton & Company, OCLC 24962326:
      Elbows almost touching they leaned at ease, idly reading the almost obliterated lines engraved there. "I never understood it," she observed, lightly scornful. "What occult meaning has a sun-dial for the spooney? I'm sure I don't want to read riddles in a strange gentleman's optics."
    • 2022 January 12, Benedict le Vay, “The heroes of Soham...”, in RAIL, number 948, page 43:
      Soham's station had been completely obliterated (the replacement was to close in 1965 and is only now being reopened).

Translations

Further reading


Italian

Verb

obliterate

  1. inflection of obliterare:
    1. second-person plural present indicative
    2. second-person plural imperative

Participle

obliterate f pl

  1. feminine plural of obliterato

Latin

Verb

obliterāte

  1. second-person plural present active imperative of obliterō
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