erase

[ ih-reys ]

/ ɪˈreɪs /

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See synonyms for: erase / erased / erasing on Thesaurus.com

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.

to exclude, replace, or refuse to recognize (the identity, experience, or contribution of a minority group or group member):Framing rape as a woman’s issue erases men’s accounts of sexual violence from public discourse.See also whitewash (def. 7b).

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.

OTHER WORDS FOR erase

1 expunge, obliterate.

See synonyms for erase on Thesaurus.com

OPPOSITES FOR erase

1, 3 restore.

See antonyms for erase on Thesaurus.com

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CAN YOU ANSWER THESE COMMON GRAMMAR DEBATES?

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Question 1 of 7

Which sentence is correct?

His boss, whom he admires, is waiting to meet with him about the big project.

His boss, who he admires, is waiting to meet with him about the big project.

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Origin of erase

First recorded in 1595–1605; from Latin ērāsus (past participle of ērādere ), equivalent to ē- e-¹ + rāsus “scraped”; see raze

synonym study for erase

1. See cancel.

OTHER WORDS FROM erase

e·ras·a·bil·i·ty, noune·ras·a·ble, adjectivehalf-e·rased, adjectivenon·e·ras·a·ble, adjective

un·e·ras·a·ble, adjectiveun·e·rased, adjectiveun·e·ras·ing, adjective

WORDS THAT MAY BE CONFUSED WITH erase

erasable , irascible

How to use erase in a sentence

Lady A is in a fight for her life … they don’t realize they’re trying to erase her identity.
One name, two musical acts and a story of privilege: How the Lady A controversy captured the state of the music industry in 2020|Emily Yahr|November 11, 2020|Washington Post
It will still have all your old data on it, though, so once you have that extracted to the new drive inside your computer, you’ll want to format and erase the old drive.
Rip out your computer’s brain and turn it into an external hard drive|Whitson Gordon|November 10, 2020|Popular-Science
I mean, 20 million people could lose their coverage if this law gets erased.
A blueprint for whoever wins the presidential election to fix America’s health care mess|jakemeth|November 4, 2020|Fortune
Interest rates are so low that they’ve largely erased the key benefit — income — Treasury bonds are theoretically supposed to provide over stocks.
The Fed Saved the Economy but Is Threatening Trillions of Dollars Worth of Middle-Class Retirement|by Allan Sloan|October 21, 2020|ProPublica

If the system was pointing towards the Earth, its future explosion could erase our planet’s ozone layer, exposing all living creatures to the Sun’s ultraviolet radiation.
This pair of dancing stars will one day collide and explode|María Paula Rubiano A.|October 16, 2020|Popular-Science

British Dictionary definitions for erase

erase

/ (ɪˈreɪz) /

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 forms of erase

erasable, 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

erase

OTHER WORDS FOR erase

OPPOSITES FOR erase

Origin of erase

synonym study for erase

OTHER WORDS FROM erase

WORDS THAT MAY BE CONFUSED WITH erase

Words related to erase

How to use erase in a sentence

British Dictionary definitions for erase

Derived forms of erase

Word Origin for erase