obliterate
Language: English
Part of speech: verb
Pronunciation: ipa: /əˈblɪtəɹeɪt/
ipa: /əˈblɪtəˌɹeɪt/
ipa: /oʊ-/
ipa: [-ɾə-]
ipa: /əˈblɪtəɹeɪt/
ipa: /əˈblɪtəˌɹeɪt/
ipa: /oʊ-/
ipa: [-ɾə-]
Forms: form: obliterates
form: obliterating
form: obliterated
form: obliterated
form: no-table-tags
form: glossary
form: obliterate
form: obliterate
form: obliterated
form: obliterate
form: obliteratest
form: obliterated
form: obliteratedst
form: obliterates
form: obliterateth
form: obliterated
form: obliterate
form: obliterated
form: obliterate
form: obliterated
form: obliterate
form: -
form: obliterating
form: obliterated
Etymology: PIE word
 *h₁epi
(start of 17th century) From earlier obliterat, learned borrowing from Latin obliterātus, oblitterātus (“having been blotted out, effaced, erased; having been forgotten”) (see -ate (verb-forming suffix, of participial origin)). Obliterātus and oblitterātus are respectively the perfect passive participles of obliterō and oblitterō (“to blot out, efface, erase, obliterate; to cause to be forgotten”), probably either:
* from ob- (prefix meaning ‘against; towards’) + littera (“letter of the alphabet; (metonymically) handwriting”) (further etymology unknown); or
* from oblītus (“disregarded, neglected; forgotten”), influenced by littera. Oblītus is the perfect passive participle of oblinō (“to daub over, besmear”), from ob- + possibly ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *h₁lengʷʰ- (“not heavy, light; brief; swift”).
Cognates
* Catalan obliterar (“to erase; to cancel (a stamp); to close up or fill (a body cavity, vessel, etc.)”)
* Middle French oblitérer (modern French oblitérer (“to cause (memories) to fade; to block, obstruct; to cancel (a stamp, ticket, etc.) so it cannot be reused”))
* Portuguese obliterar (“to destroy completely; to erase”)
* Spanish obliterar (“to destroy completely; to erase”)
Senses: examples: text: [H]e [Pope Gregory I] deſigned to obliterate and extinguiſh the memorie of Heathen antiquitie and Authors.
ref: 1605, Francis Bacon, “The First Booke”, in The Twoo Bookes of Francis Bacon. Of the Proficience and Aduancement of Learning, Diuine and Humane, London: […] [Thomas Purfoot and Thomas Creede] for Henrie Tomes, […], →OCLC, folio 31, recto:
text: This opinion ſeemeth to me, to leave very little or no place for the Chriſtian Religion. For […] It obliterateth the notion of Gods Holineſs, vvhich to be no Holineſs, but a common or indifferent thing.
ref: 1675, Richard Baxter, “[The First Book.] The First Part: […]. Section XVIII. A Confutation of Dr. Twisse’s Digr. 5. l. 2. Sect. 1. Vind. Grat.”, in Richard Baxter’s Catholick Theologie: […], London: […] Robert White, for Nevill Simmons […], →OCLC, paragraph 588, page 94:
text: VVhen vve forget Things; either the Impreſſions are obliterated, or the Images diſſolved into their firſt Principles, or Exterminated from the Brain, vvith the Current of the Animal Spirits into the Nerves.
ref: 1701, Nehemiah Grew, “Of Mind. And First, of Phancy, or Phantastick Mind.”, in Cosmologia Sacra: Or A Discourse of the Universe as It is the Creature and Kingdom of God. […], London: […] W[illiam] Rogers, S[amuel] Smith, and B[enjamin] Walford: […], →OCLC, 2nd book, paragraph 21, page 43:
text: All tenderness for the feelings of others, all selfrespect, all sense of the becoming, were obliterated from his [George Jeffreys, 1st Baron Jeffreys's] mind.
ref: 1849, Thomas Babington Macaulay, chapter IV, in The History of England from the Accession of James II, volume I, London: Longman, Brown, Green, and Longmans, →OCLC, page 450:
text: The Four Years' War is over— […] A new race, a young and lusty generation, already sweeps in with oceanic currents, obliterating the war, and all its scars, its mounded graves, and all its reminiscences of hatred, conflict, death. So let it be obliterated.
ref: 1872, Walt Whitman, “[Collect.] Preface, 1872, to ‘As a Strong Bird on Pinions Free,’ (now ‘Thou Mother with Thy Equal Brood,’ in Permanent Ed’n.).”, in Specimen Days & Collect, Philadelphia, Pa.: Rees Welsh & Co., […], published 1882–1883, →OCLC, page 279:
text: That is what distance does for us; the harsh and bitter feelings of this or that experience are slowly obliterated, and memory begins to look kindly on the past.
ref: 1876, William Black, “England, Farewell!”, in Madcap Violet. […], volume II, London: Macmillan and Co., →OCLC, pages 182–183:
text: The seal of Pepi is in the House of Rurutȧ. The god who obliterateth sin, Ȧṭer-ȧsfet, obliterateth the transgressions which belong to Pepi in the presence of Khenti-merti in Sekhem.
ref: 1911, E[rnest] A[lfred Thompson] Wallis Budge, “Appendix: Translations from the Pyramid Texts of Pepi I, Mer-en-Rā, and Pepi II”, in Osiris and the Egyptian Resurrection […], London: Philip Lee Warner; New York, N.Y.: G[eorge] P[almer] Putnam’s Sons, →OCLC, page 363:
text: Soham's station had been completely obliterated (the replacement was to close in 1965 and is only now being reopened).
ref: 2022 January 12, Benedict le Vay, “The Heroes of Soham …”, in Rail, number 948, Peterborough, Cambridgeshire: Bauer Media, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 43:
text: The initial damage assessment suggests that President Trump’s claim that Iran’s nuclear facilities were “obliterated” was overstated.
ref: 2025 June 24, Julian E. Barnes, Helene Cooper, Eric Schmitt, Ronen Bergman, Maggie Haberman, “Strike Set Back Iran’s Nuclear Program by Only a Few Months, U.S. Report Says”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:
synonyms: word: bedash
word: do away with
word: eradicate
word: extirpate
word: raze
word: uproot
word: destroy
word: annihilate
word: aerosolize
word: atomize
word: benothing
word: bewreck
word: blot out
word: blotto
word: dash
word: decompose
word: demolish
word: desolate
word: devastate
word: diffuse
word: disintegrate
word: disperse
word: dissolve
word: eliminate
word: eradicate
word: erase
word: exterminate
word: extinguish
word: extirpate
word: fuck
word: harry
word: jazz
word: lay waste
word: level
word: liquidate
word: nuke
word: obliterate
word: pull down
word: pulverize
word: race
word: raze
word: ravage
word: remove
word: ruin
word: stamp out
word: total
word: unbreed
word: unexist
word: unmake
word: uproot
word: waste
word: wipe out
word: wipe off
word: wreck
glosses: To destroy (someone or something) completely, leaving no trace; to annihilate, to wipe out.
examples: text: The rainclouds obliterated the sun as they swept across the sky.
text: Likevviſe the fragrancy of euery greene herbe yeeldeth ſuch a ſauour, as doth not a little obliterate and ouerſvvay the ſauour of the beaſt: […]
ref: 1607, Conradus Gesnerus [i.e., Conrad Gessner]; Edward Topsell, “The English Bloudhounde”, in The Historie of Foure-footed Beastes. […], London: […] William Iaggard, →OCLC, page 152:
text: When the ſhadows of the evening are ſtretched out, […] when the veil, that is caſt over the face of nature, obliterateth the variety of colours which owe their being to the light, and aboliſheth all the diſtinction of objects thence ariſing, introducing a joyleſs and uncomfortable uniformity, and rendering it impoſſible for any to "go forth to their labour;" […] then it is that deep ſleep falleth upon man.
ref: a. 1793 (date written), George Horne, “Discourse II. The Sinner Called.”, in Discourses on Several Subjects and Occasions, 4th edition, volume II, Oxford, Oxfordshire: […] J. Cooke; and G. G. J. and J. Robinson, T[homas] Cadell, and F[rancis] and C[harles] Rivington, […], published 1793, →OCLC, page 33:
glosses: To hide (something) by covering it; to conceal, to obscure.
examples: text: The Senate approuing all that vvas done, decreed that his name ſhould bee obliterated out of all monuments in Rome, and neuer any Antoninus (a name before very gratious) ſhould rule againe their Empire: ſo odious vvas the remembrance of this Image of Ignominy.
ref: 1611, Iohn Speed [i.e., John Speed], “Antoninus Heliogabalus”, in The History of Great Britaine under the Conquests of yͤ Romans, Saxons, Danes and Normans. […], London: […] William Hall and John Beale, for John Sudbury and George Humble, […], →OCLC, book VI ([The Romans] […]), paragraph 6, page 235, column 1:
text: [A]s one foule blot or daſh vvith a pen defaceth a vvhole vvriting, ſo one foule and enormous crime daſheth and obliterateth the faireſt copy of a vertuous life.
ref: 1636, Daniel Featley, “The Danger of Relapse. The LVI Sermon.”, in Clavis Mystica: A Key Opening Divers Difficult and Mysterious Texts of Holy Scripture; […], London: […] R[obert] Y[oung] for Nicolas Bourne, […], →OCLC, page 773:
text: As vvhen a name lodg'd in the memory, / But yet through time almoſt obliterate, / Confuſely hovers near the phantaſie: / The man that's thus affected bids relate / A catologue of names.
ref: 1642, H[enry] M[ore], “ΨΥΧΑΘΑΝΑΣΙΑ [Psychathanasia] Platonica: Or A Platonicall Poem of the Immortality of Souls, Especially Mans Soul”, in ΨΥΧΩΔΙΑ [Psychōdia] Platonica: Or A Platonicall Song of the Soul, […], Cambridge, Cambridgeshire: […] Roger Daniel, printer to the Universitie, →OCLC, book 2, canto 3, stanza 11, page 51:
text: Becauſe our Conſcience is ſprinkled by the blood of Chriſt, vvhich defaceth and obliterateth all thoſe black Items, that othervviſe vvould be continually calling upon us.
ref: 1676, [Matthew Hale], “Of the Knowledge of Christ Crucified”, in Contemplations Moral and Divine. […], London: […] William Godbid, for William Shrowsbury […], and John Leigh […], →OCLC, page 247:
text: Blessed art thou, O Lord, universal King! who pardonest and forgivest our sins, and the sins of thy people Israel, and obliteratest our guilt year after year; […]
ref: 1836, Hyam Isaacs, “Remarks on the Traditions and Ceremonies of the Jews”, in Ceremonies, Customs, Rites, and Traditions of the Jews, […], 2nd edition, London: […] T. and C. Buck, […] [for] S. Holdworth, […], →OCLC, page 58:
text: The walls had been rudely painted, (for arras then was rare, even among the wealthiest,) but the colours were half obliterated by time and damp.
ref: 1843, Edward Bulwer[-]Lytton, “Ill Fares the Country Mouse in the Traps of Town”, in The Last of the Barons, London; New York, N.Y.: George Routledge and Sons […], →OCLC, book II (The King’s Court), page 66:
text: At least she could not be comfortable there till long years should have obliterated her keen consciousness of it.
ref: 1891, Thomas Hardy, Tess of the d’Urbervilles: A Pure Woman Faithfully Presented […], volume (please specify |volume=I to III), London: James R[ipley] Osgood, McIlvaine and Co., […], →OCLC:
text: 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."
ref: 1907 August, Robert W[illiam] Chambers, “Silverside”, in The Younger Set, New York, N.Y.: D. Appleton & Company, →OCLC, page 316:
hyponyms: word: deface
word: paint out
word: mark out
english: of text
translation: of text
word: strike through
english: of text
translation: of text
glosses: To make (a drawing, text which is printed or written, etc.) indecipherable, either by erasing or obscuring it; to blot out, to efface, to delete.
examples: text: In the developing embryo the foregut is surrounded by a group of vascular structures of bilateral distribution connected with the branchial arches. Portions of these arches are obliterated to form the normally described aorta and great vessels. The ultimate persistence of only one main vascular arch, the left, as the aorta, permits the trachea and oesophagus to lie freely to its right side.
ref: 1959 September, F. Ronald Edwards, “Vascular Compression of the Trachea and Oesophagus”, in N[orman] R[upert] Barrett, J[ohn] G[uyett] Scadding, editors, Thorax, volume XIV, number 3, London: British Medical Association, →DOI, →ISSN, →OCLC, →PMID, page 187, column 1:
text: The pleural sac was obliterated by firm fibrous adhesions over the right upper lobe.
ref: 1959 December, R. H. Elphinstone, R. G. Spector, “Sarcoma of the Pulmonary Artery”, in N[orman] R[upert] Barrett, J[ohn] G[uyett] Scadding, editors, Thorax, volume XIV, number 4, London: British Medical Association, →DOI, →ISSN, →OCLC, →PMID, page 335, column 1:
text: Compression of an aneurysm of the left carotid artery should obliterate only the pulses of the distribution of this artery, not those of the femoral arteries. If the mass is an aneurysm of the right common carotid artery, manual compression should obliterate the distribution of this vessel and, because of its location, may also obliterate the vessels of the right arm. However, femoral pulsations should be preserved.
ref: 1974 July, Ira W. DuBrow, Sheldon O. Burman, Decio O. Elias, Alois R. Hastreiter, Raymond J. Pietras, “Aortic Arch in the Neck”, in The Journal of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery, volume 68, number 1, [St. Louis, Mo.: Mosby?], →DOI, →ISSN, →PMID, page 27, column 1:
topics: biology
medicine
natural-sciences
pathology
sciences
surgery
qualifier: chiefly passive voice
glosses: To impair the function and/or structure of (a body cavity, vessel, etc.) by ablating or occluding it (in the latter case, chiefly by filling it with tissue).
topics: hobbies
lifestyle
philately
glosses: To cancel (a postage stamp) with a postmark so it cannot be reused.
glosses: To be destroyed completely, leaving no trace.
examples: text: distal pulses obliterate until perfusion is restored
topics: biology
medicine
natural-sciences
pathology
sciences
glosses: Of a body cavity, vessel, etc.: to close up or fill with tissue; of perfusion or a pulse: to cease owing to obstruction.
Derived terms: word: abliterate
word: obliterable
word: obliterated
word: obliterating
word: obliteratingly
word: obliterative
word: obliterator
word: obliterature
raw_tags: in one sense
word: unobliterable
word: unobliterated
Related terms: obliteration
obliviate
oblivion