efface

American  

[ih-feys] / ɪˈfeɪs /

verb (used with object)

effaced, effacing

1. to wipe out; do away with; expunge.

   to efface one's unhappy memories.

2. to rub out, erase, or obliterate (outlines, traces, inscriptions, etc.).

3. to make (oneself ) inconspicuous; withdraw (oneself ) modestly or shyly.

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efface British  

/ ɪˈfeɪs /

verb

1. to obliterate or make dim

   to efface a memory

2. to make (oneself) inconspicuous or humble through modesty, cowardice, or obsequiousness

3. to rub out (a line, drawing, etc); erase

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Other Word Forms

• effaceable adjective
• effacement noun
• effacer noun
• uneffaceable adjective
• uneffaced adjective

Etymology

Origin of efface

From the Middle French word effacer, dating back to 1480–90; ef-, face

Example Sentences

His celebrated merchant posters, made from local advertisements that he salvages from his neighborhood and then effaces so that multiple layers surface simultaneously, tell a history of predation via something as commonplace as payday-loan advertisements.

From New York Times

Frankly, to efface all cartographic memorials to racism in Alexandria would require changing the name of the city itself.

From Washington Post

While the channel has protected the city from major flooding, it has also worsened the effects of segregation, and so effaced the river that many Angelenos might no longer know it was ever there.

From New York Times

But some may feel that the warm welcome Omar receives from the enslaved workers at Owen’s plantation effaces the harsher reality of the character’s circumstance.

From Los Angeles Times

If Moscow “wants to erase the name Ukraine,” he believes, Odesa needs to efface most traces of Russia.

From New York Times