erasure

American  

[ih-rey-sher] / ɪˈreɪ ʃər /

noun

1. an act or instance of erasing.

2. a place where something has been erased; a spot or mark left after erasing.

   You can't sign a contract with so many erasures in it.

3. 1. the exclusion of a minority group or group member from the historical record, or from the discussion of current events: black victim erasure in the crime-bill debate.

      erasure of female scientists from textbooks;

      black victim erasure in the crime-bill debate.

   2. the replacement or whitewashing of a minority character or group with a member or members of the dominant cultural group in fictional representations of historical events.

      minority erasure in film.

   3. the denial of an individual’s or group’s minority identity, or the misidentification of a minority group member: cultural erasure and white identity among Chicanos.

      trans-erasure issues in the LGBT community;

      cultural erasure and white identity among Chicanos.

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erasure British  

/ ɪˈreɪʒə /

noun

1. the act or an instance of erasing

2. the place or mark, as on a piece of paper, where something has been erased

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Other Word Forms

• nonerasure noun

Etymology

Origin of erasure

First recorded in 1725–35; erase + -ure

Example Sentences

“One Battle After Another” looked at the impact of militarized authority—and opened with an armed raid to free detainees at a government immigration center—while “Sinners” examined the complexities of Black American history and cultural erasure.

From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 16, 2026

Henry Giroux, social theorist and author of “Assassins of Memory,” a book that examines the politics of erasure, was not surprised.

From Salon • Mar. 2, 2026

Harmonia Rosales’ Black figurative paintings combine Eurocentric artistic traditions with African diasporic cosmologies as a way to course-correct the historical erasure of Black images from classical narratives.

From Los Angeles Times • Feb. 23, 2026

"New York is the birthplace of the modern LGBTQ+ rights movement, and no act of erasure will ever change, or silence, that history," he wrote on X.

From Barron's • Feb. 10, 2026

So thorough was the erasure that within a few generations neither conqueror nor conquered knew that this world had existed.

From "1491" by Charles C. Mann

Related Words

• deletion