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

"You may have the power to bring down the government. But you cannot efface reality," he said.

From BBC • Sep. 8, 2025

He has a formal, shy, sincere manner, polite and cautious, as if to efface his size and menace.

From New York Times • Jun. 22, 2023

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

From Washington Post • Jan. 17, 2023

Most essentially, “Time Is the Thing a Body Moves Through,” not unlike Fleischmann’s first book “Syzygy, Beauty,” effaces lines of genre as a strategy to efface, or disrupt, lines of self and gender.

From Los Angeles Times • Jun. 5, 2019

There was nothing more for him but to efface himself, to destroy the unsuccessful structure of his life, to throw it away, mocked at by the gods.

From "Siddhartha" by Hermann Hesse