Synonyms Examples Word Origin
See more synonyms for erase 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. Slang to murder: The gang had to erase him before he informed on them. Show More
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. Show More
Origin of erase 1595–1605; <
Latin ērāsus (past participle of
ērādere ), equivalent to
ē- e-1 +
rāsus scraped; see
raze Related forms e·ras·a·bil·i·ty , noun e·ras·a·ble , adjective half-e·rased , adjective non·e·ras·a·ble , adjective un·e·ras·a·ble , adjective un·e·rased , adjective un·e·ras·ing , adjective Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Related Words for erase expunge ,
obliterate ,
abolish ,
eliminate ,
negate ,
delete ,
efface ,
trim ,
cut ,
excise ,
blank ,
dispatch ,
nullify ,
strike ,
blot ,
kill ,
extirpate ,
withdraw ,
gut ,
cancel Examples from the Web for erase Contemporary Examples of erase Do as Tumblr has done and scrub her last words off the Internet—erase everything she wanted the world to hear.
Is this a mature expression of understandable judgment, or a bid to erase history while conflating fiction and reality?
Its militants say explicitly they are out to erase the borders that Sykes-Picot established across most of the modern Middle East.
Later, she told a local reporter that she had used a chemical to erase her fingerprints.
I immediately realized I needed to do something to erase that legacy from my memory.
Historical Examples of erase I find she quite ignores it, if she has sums to do, or blots to erase .
And first of all, erase from it all that you have heard me say in the council-room.
He could not erase errors, or paint them over, as an artist does.
Hence we erase all optional marks in the 1st and 3rd rows, but let them stand in the 2nd.
And if he depart, let him erase all the entries which have been made by him in the register kept by the magistrates.
British Dictionary definitions for erase to obliterate or rub out (something written, typed, etc) (tr) to destroy all traces of; remove completely time 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 Show More
Derived Forms 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
Word Origin and History for erase v. 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 .
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
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