ablate

American  

[a-bleyt] / æˈbleɪt /

verb (used with object)

ablated, ablating

1. to remove or dissipate by melting, vaporization, erosion, etc..

   to ablate a metal surface with intense heat.

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verb (used without object)

ablated, ablating

1. to become ablated; undergo ablation.

ablate British  

/ æbˈleɪt /

verb

1. (tr) to remove by ablation

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Etymology

Origin of ablate

First recorded in 1535–45; from Latin ablātus “carried away,” past participle of auferre “to carry away,” from au-, variant of ab- ab- + ferre “to bear, bring, carry”; for the element -lātus, earlier tlātus (unrecorded), see also thole ² ( def. ), tolerate ( def. )

Explanation

When you ablate something, you wear it away by rubbing or some other method. In medicine, doctors sometimes need to ablate a patient's skin to help it heal. The verb ablate is often used in many different sciences — in each case, it has a slightly different sense, although its basic meaning is always to erode or otherwise wear away a substance. One way for physicians to treat heart disease is to ablate the inside of an artery using a tiny drill-like tool, and geologists study the way processes like evaporation and erosion can ablate — or remove the surface of — a glacier. The Latin root word is ablationem, "a taking away."

Example Sentences

"Magnetic bioactive nanocomposites are very promising for bone cancer therapy because they can simultaneously ablate tumors through magnetic hyperthermia and support new bone growth," said Dr. Ângela Andrade, lead author of the study.

From Science Daily • Jan. 7, 2026

Some space agencies and private companies have begun designing their craft to ablate — break apart and burn up — in the atmosphere at the end of their life, an approach called “design for demise.”

From Salon • Apr. 12, 2025

“Those antisense oligonucleotides are going to ablate full-length huntingtin, but they are not going to affect this mini version of huntingtin,” he says.

From Nature • May 29, 2018

Where surgery is inappropriate, radiation therapy can be used to reduce the size of a tumor or ablate portions of the adrenal cortex.

From Textbooks • Jun. 19, 2013

That might, which was so great that to ablate it the earth had to bear new races, was based on two things, citizenship and the family.

From Historia Amoris: A History of Love, Ancient and Modern by Saltus, Edgar