effacement

[ ih-feys-muhnt ]

noun
  1. the act of wiping out, erasing, or doing away with something: The gradual effacement of ethnic differences has often been seen as a solution to the difficulties experienced by immigrants.

  2. the act or habit of humbly keeping oneself in the background; self-effacement: There's nothing showy about the way this author writes; a sort of vast humility and effacement echoes through the whole book.

  1. Medicine/Medical. the thinning of bodily tissue, especially of the cervix to prepare for childbirth: Cervical effacement is usually nearly complete before the first phase of labor.

Origin of effacement

1

Words Nearby effacement

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use effacement in a sentence

  • She had produced the effect of shrinking from observation under some subtle shadow of self-effacement.

    The Butterfly House | Mary E. Wilkins Freeman
  • The agency of their effacement was an endemic disorder known as yellow fever.

  • Somehow, their self-effacement in his behalf touched him more keenly than anything else had done during this troubled period.

    The Pillar of Light | Louis Tracy