erase

[ih-reys]

verb (used with object), e·rased, e·ras·ing.

to rub or scrape out, as letters or characters written, engraved, etc.; efface.

to eliminate completely: She couldn't erase the tragic scene from her memory.

to obliterate (material recorded on magnetic tape or a magnetic disk): She erased the message.

to obliterate recorded material from (a magnetic tape or disk): He accidentally erased the tape.

Computers. to remove (data) from computer storage.

Slang. to murder: The gang had to erase him before he informed on them.

verb (used without object), e·rased, e·ras·ing.

to give way to effacement readily or easily.

to obliterate characters, letters, markings, etc., from something.

Origin of erase

1595–1605; < Latin ērāsus (past participle of ērādere), equivalent to ē- e-¹ + rāsus scraped; see raze

Related formse·ras·a·bil·i·ty, noune·ras·a·ble, adjectivehalf-e·rased, adjectivenon·e·ras·a·ble, adjectiveun·e·ras·a·ble, adjectiveun·e·rased, adjectiveun·e·ras·ing, adjective

Can be confusederasable irascible

Synonyms for erase

1. expunge, obliterate.

Synonym study

1. See cancel.

Antonyms for erase

1, 3. restore.

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

British Dictionary definitions for erasable

erase

verb

to obliterate or rub out (something written, typed, etc)

(tr) to destroy all traces of; remove completelytime erases grief

to remove (a recording) from (magnetic tape)

(tr) computing to replace (data) on a storage device with characters representing an absence of data

Derived Formserasable, adjective

Word Origin for erase

C17: from Latin ērādere to scrape off, from ex- 1 + rādere to scratch, scrape

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for erasable

adj.

1849, from erase + -able.

erase

c.1600, from Latin erasus, past participle of eradere "scrape out, scrape off, shave," from ex- "out" (see ex-) + radere "to scrape" (see raze). Of magnetic tape, from 1945. Related: Erased; erasing.