obliteration

For the moment, passion for the vivid woman-creature before him had dulled that profounder feeling almost to obliteration.

The word though, by the obliteration of three letters, may be as easily read as the or that.

The obstacles which stand in the way of this obliteration, at the outset, are two.

Of course, such a strenuous expansion means the obliteration of landmarks of the past.