deletion

American  

[dih-lee-shuhn] / dɪˈli ʃən /

noun

1. an act or instance of deleting.

2. the state of being deleted.

3. a deleted word, passage, etc.

4. Genetics. a type of chromosomal aberration in which a segment of the chromosome is removed or lost.

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deletion British  

/ dɪˈliːʃən /

noun

1. the act of deleting or fact of being deleted

2. a deleted passage, word, etc, in text

3. the loss or absence of a section of a chromosome

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Etymology

Origin of deletion

1580–90; < Latin dēlētiōn- (stem of dēlētiō ) a destroying, equivalent to dēlēt ( us ) ( see delete) + -iōn- -ion

Explanation

Deletion is the process of erasing or removing something, like the deletion of all the spam emails from your in-box or a newspaper editor's deletion of extraneous information in a draft of an article. Deletion is a type of editing, especially when you cross out lines that don't work in a given piece: "I'm just not sure about the deletion of that last paragraph." When it's used in the context of computers, deletion is the loss or removal of data, like the deletion of files that were taking up too much space on your hard drive. In genetics, when a gene or part of a chromosome is missing, that's also a deletion.

Example Sentences

Deletion requests are subject to some broad exemptions.

From Washington Post • Sep. 26, 2021

Experts say the district’s “Data Deletion Week” may be the first of its kind in the country.

From The Guardian • Dec. 5, 2019

One of the parent leaders of the Data Deletion Week campaign was Bradley Shear, an attorney who specializes in social media and privacy policy.

From The Guardian • Dec. 5, 2019

Deletion involves the loss of all or part of a chromosome, duplication produces an extra copy of all or part of a chromosome, and inversion reverses the direction of parts of a chromosome.

From Textbooks • Jan. 1, 2018

Deletion of i before u is marked by a dot above the letter and a slanting stroke through it.

From A Sixth-Century Fragment of the Letters of Pliny the Younger A Study of Six Leaves of an Uncial Manuscript Preserved in the Pierpont Morgan Library New York by Lowe, E. A. (Elias Avery)