erase

[ ih-reys ]
See synonyms for erase on Thesaurus.com
verb (used with object),e·rased, e·ras·ing.
  1. to rub or scrape out, as letters or characters written, engraved, etc.; efface.

  2. to eliminate completely: She couldn't erase the tragic scene from her memory.

  1. to obliterate (material recorded on magnetic tape or a magnetic disk): She erased the message.

  2. to obliterate recorded material from (a magnetic tape or disk): He accidentally erased the tape.

  3. Computers. to remove (data) from computer storage.

  4. 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.: See also whitewash (def. 7b).

  5. Slang. to murder: The gang had to erase him before he informed on them.

verb (used without object),e·rased, e·ras·ing.
  1. to give way to effacement readily or easily.

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

Origin of erase

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

synonym study For erase

1. See cancel.

Other words for erase

Opposites for erase

Other words from erase

  • e·ras·a·bil·i·ty, noun
  • e·ras·a·ble, adjective
  • half-e·rased, adjective
  • non·e·ras·a·ble, adjective
  • un·e·ras·a·ble, adjective
  • un·e·rased, adjective
  • un·e·ras·ing, adjective

Words that may be confused with erase

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use erase in a sentence

  • So now, as she regarded her mother, a loving smile erased the frown from Grace's forehead.

  • It is now illegible, and some of its lines appear to have been carefully erased—by some High Church chisel, probably.

    East Anglia | J. Ewing Ritchie
  • This owes its name to the fact of its having contained the word, Sheitan—now in every instance carefully erased.

    The Cradle of Mankind | W.A. Wigram
  • He is like a slate from which all the writing has been erased.

    Riders of the Silences | John Frederick
  • It has, however, erased the external signs which formerly distinguished the members of one race from those of another.

British Dictionary definitions for erase

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

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

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

Origin of erase

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

Derived forms of erase

  • erasable, adjective

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012