obliterate

CEFRC1

/əˈblɪtəɹeɪt/

verb

Türkçe translations

Translating…

In plain English

  1. 01

    verb

    To destroy something completely so nothing remains.

  2. 02

    verb

    Extra detail

    To hide (something) by covering it; to conceal, to obscure.

Examples

  • Layla wanted to obliterate the memory of Fadil's first wife.

  • This threatens to obliterate all the progress we have made over the years.

At a glance

Sits at C1 on the CEFR scale

Senses
5
Parts of speech
1
Citations
5
Synonyms
5

Also pronounced

  • /əˈblɪtəɹət/
  • /oʊ-/

Deep Dive

verb

Extra meanings

  1. To make (a drawing, text which is printed or written, etc.) indecipherable, either by erasing or obscuring it; to blot out, to efface, to delete.

  2. To destroy (someone or something) completely, leaving no trace; to annihilate, to wipe out.

  3. To impair the function and/or structure of (a body cavity, vessel, etc.) by ablating or occluding it (in the latter case, chiefly by filling it with tissue).

More examples

In context

  • The rainclouds obliterated the sun as they swept across the sky.

  • distal pulses obliterate until perfusion is restored

  • [H]e [Pope Gregory I] deſigned to obliterate and extinguiſh the memorie of Heathen antiquitie and Authors.

Synonyms

Quick test

Two questions on this entry. Nothing is scored.

Question 1 · Quick check

The massive explosion will blank entire buildings within a mile radius of the blast.

Practise this properly in the app, where the word comes back before you forget it.

Nearby

Origin

verb

PIE word *h₁epi (start of 17th century) From earlier obliterat, learned borrowing from Latin obliterātus, oblitterātus (“having been blotted out, effaced, erased; having been forgotten”) (see -ate (verb-forming suffix, of participial origin)). Obliterātus and oblitterātus are respectively the perfect passive participles of obliterō and oblitterō (“to blot out, efface, erase, obliterate; to cause to be forgotten”), probably either: * from ob- (prefix meaning ‘against; towards’) + littera (“letter of the alphabet; (metonymically) handwriting”) (further etymology unknown); or * from oblītus (“disregarded, neglected; forgotten”), influenced by littera. Oblītus is the perfect passive participle...