expunge
Americanverb (used with object)
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to strike or blot out; erase; obliterate.
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to efface; wipe out or destroy.
verb
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to delete or erase; blot out; obliterate
-
to wipe out or destroy
Usage
What does expunge mean? Expunge means to erase, delete, cross out, or destroy.Expunge is especially used in the context of law, in which it means to remove an arrest or conviction from a person’s public criminal record.A record that has been altered in this way can be described as expunged. The process of expunging can be called expungement or expunction.Example: Many criminal justice reform advocates support the law, which would expand the range of offenses that could be expunged from criminal records.
Other Word Forms
- expunction noun
- expunger noun
- unexpunged adjective
Etymology
Origin of expunge
1595–1605; < Latin expungere to blot out, erase, equivalent to ex- ex- 1 + pungere to prick
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Representatives from the Russian military told the convicts that if they joined the army and went to Ukraine their sentences would be expunged, Kurashov said.
From BBC
He said he got his record expunged in 2016, but — again — it was too late.
From Los Angeles Times
Even after Friday’s selloff, that indicator remains high, indicating “speculation hasn’t been expunged from the market,” he said.
From MarketWatch
In 2020, Newsom signed a law that allows nonviolent incarcerated people who worked on a conservation camp fire crew to have their records expunged.
From Los Angeles Times
As warmer spotlights go, “It’s Never Over, Jeff Buckley” may never fully expunge what maddens and mystifies about the untimely end of troubled souls.
From Los Angeles Times
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
