Obliterate
[ə'blɪtəreɪt] or [ə'blɪtə'ret]
Definition
(verb.) remove completely from recognition or memory; 'efface the memory of the time in the camps'.
(verb.) do away with completely, without leaving a trace.
Typed by Gus--From WordNet
Definition
(v. t.) To erase or blot out; to efface; to render undecipherable, as a writing.
(v. t.) To wear out; to remove or destroy utterly by any means; to render imperceptible; as. to obliterate ideas; to obliterate the monuments of antiquity.
(a.) Scarcely distinct; -- applied to the markings of insects.
Checked by Dylan
Synonyms and Synonymous
v. a. Efface, erase, expunge, cancel, rub out, rub off, blot out, scratch out, wipe out, strike out.
Edited by Barrett
Synonyms and Antonyms
[See EFFACE]
Checked by Calvin
Definition
v.t. to blot out so as not to be readable: to wear out: to destroy: to reduce to a very low state.—n. Obliterā′tion act of obliterating: a blotting or wearing out: extinction.—adj. Oblit′erātive.
Checked by Amy
Examples
- She fancied that Raymond would already be free, and that her tender attentions would come to entirely obliterate even the memory of his mischance. Mary Shelley. The Last Man.
- As if that honour would obliterate any remembrance! Charles Dickens. Little Dorrit.
- You perceive several places where it has passed across and obliterated the more shallow mark of the front one. Arthur Conan Doyle. The Return of Sherlock Holmes.
- Now this concentration must represent a profound impetus in the business world--an impetus which certainly cannot be obliterated, even if anyone were foolish enough to wish it. Walter Lippmann. A Preface to Politics.
- The track of the doomed men through the ranks of their fellow mortals was obliterated. Wilkie Collins. The Moonstone.
- He waited at the door of the carriage patiently, self-obliterated. D. H. Lawrence. Women in Love .
- Here, once again, was the mark of the bicycle, though nearly obliterated by the hoofs of cows. Arthur Conan Doyle. The Return of Sherlock Holmes.
- And the man curiously obliterated himself, as if he could make himself invisible, as a rat can. D. H. Lawrence. Women in Love .
- That would have obliterated every advantage by which they lived. H. G. Wells. The Outline of History_Being a Plain History of Life and Mankind.
- Shadows, dark and heavy, struck again and again across the place where the heart of the moon had been, obliterating it altogether. D. H. Lawrence. Women in Love .
- The routineer with his taboo does not see this, so he attempts the impossible task of obliterating the impulse. Walter Lippmann. A Preface to Politics.
- I say, my friends, pursues Mr. Chadband, utterly rejecting and obliterating Mr. Snagsby's suggestion, why can we not fly? Charles Dickens. Bleak House.
Typist: Owen