wipe out

verb

1. (tr) to destroy completely; eradicate

2. informal,  (tr) to murder or kill

3. (intr) to fall or jump off a surfboard or skateboard

noun

1. an act or instance of wiping out

2. the interference of one radio signal by another so that reception is impossible

Idioms and Phrases

Destroy, as in The large chains are wiping out the independent bookstores . Originally put simply as wipe , the idiom acquired out in the first half of the 1800s.

Kill; also, murder. For example, The entire crew was wiped out in the plane crash , or The gangsters threatened to wipe him and his family out . [Late 1800s]

Example Sentences

U.S. government debt sold off Thursday morning, nearly wiping out all of October’s gains as comments from Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell transformed investors’ expectations for interest-rate cuts.

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Stride stock fell 48% Wednesday, wiping out all of the company’s 2025 gains and putting the stock on pace for its largest single-day decline on record, according to Dow Jones Market Data.

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The report also provides an optimistic signal that generative AI may not wipe out the entry-level job.

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Meteorologists said Melissa would be a slow-moving storm that lingers over the region, wiping out power and infrastructure.

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"The threats to almost half are so severe that they could be wiped out in the next 10 years," the report warned.

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Related Words

• abolish 
• annihilate 
• cancel 
• decimate 
• eliminate 
• eradicate 
• erase 
• exterminate 
• extinguish 
• kill 
• obliterate 
• remove 
• slaughter 
• uproot