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

Explanation

Erasure is the act of erasing, deleting, or removing something. It's tricky to write an essay on a typewriter instead of a computer, because it's hard to hide any erasures. An erasure can be made, appropriately, by erasing pencilled words with an eraser, but there are many other kinds of erasure. You can experience an accidental erasure of a whole day's work by hitting the wrong button on your laptop, and you can choose to hide details of your past with the kind of erasure that involves leaving certain information out when you tell your story. The Latin root is eradere, "scrape off" or "remove."

Example Sentences

Cabinet officials come and go, but the near-immediate removal of Bondi’s image signaled something closer to erasure than transition, a rapid closing of ranks inside a department that had already been under pressure.

From Salon • Apr. 4, 2026

Houda Fonone, a Moroccan model and content creator who advocates for more authentic representations of black women, says the trend is about "erasure".

From BBC • Mar. 21, 2026

“Black people have experienced quite a level of erasure in South L.A.,” added Karen Mack, founder and executive director of LA Commons.

From Los Angeles Times • Feb. 19, 2026

Carthage’s deeper tragedy lies in the subsequent erasure of its history, language and culture, not in its physical destruction, which befalls all empires.

From The Wall Street Journal • Feb. 11, 2026

The past was erased, the erasure was forgotten, the lie became truth.

From "1984" by George Orwell

Related Words

• deletion