erasing
Making marks vanish
Erasing is removing marks, writing, or recorded material.
You erase pencil marks with a rubber eraser, chalkboard writing with a felt pad, digital files with a keystroke.
The word extends to anything eliminated or obliterated: erasing all traces of the previous tenant, erasing the memory from her mind.
In basketball, erasing a deficit means overcoming it.
Cleaning by rubbing hard
- wipingRubbing to clean
- rubbingApplying pressure while moving
- smudgingMaking blurry marks
- residueMatter left behind
whiteboard · chalkboard · marks · pencil · graphite · smear · traces · streaks
Taking something out
- expungingRemoving completely from existence
- redactingObscuring text for secrecy
- voidingNullifying or emptying
- cancellingEnding something planned
undoing · backspace · correcting · editing · striking · crossing-out · whiteout · overwriting
Causing complete ruin
- annihilatingDestroying utterly and completely
- eliminatingRemoving from consideration
- eradicatingRemoving completely and permanently
- effacingRemoving from view
expunging · purging · extinguishing · vanishing · disappearing · traces · evidence · existence
Mind's retention capacity
- amnesiaPathological loss of recall
- repressionUnconscious blocking of thoughts
- suppressionForcible prevention or concealment
- blanknessState of being empty
oblivion · fading · forgotten · unremembered · lapse · trauma · past · recollection
Official content restriction
- revisionismReexamining established doctrine
- whitewashingConcealing unpleasant facts
- silencingStopping noise or dissent
- marginalizationRelegation to powerless periphery
suppression · propaganda · rewriting · history · heritage · identity · colonialism · assimilation
scrubbing
Cleaning by rubbing hard
residue · whiteboard · chalkboard · marks · pencil · graphite · smear · traces · streaks · cloth
removing
Taking something out
- expungingRemoving completely from existence
- redactingObscuring text for secrecy
- voidingNullifying or emptying
cancelling · undoing · backspace · correcting · editing · striking · crossing-out · whiteout · overwriting · clearing
destroying
Causing complete ruin
- annihilatingDestroying utterly and completely
- eliminatingRemoving from consideration
- eradicatingRemoving completely and permanently
effacing · expunging · purging · extinguishing · vanishing · disappearing · traces · evidence · existence · history
memory
Mind's retention capacity
- amnesiaPathological loss of recall
- repressionUnconscious blocking of thoughts
- suppressionForcible prevention or concealment
blankness · oblivion · fading · forgotten · unremembered · lapse · trauma · past · recollection · blocking
censorship
Official content restriction
- revisionismReexamining established doctrine
- whitewashingConcealing unpleasant facts
- silencingStopping noise or dissent
marginalization · suppression · propaganda · rewriting · history · heritage · identity · colonialism · assimilation · book-burning
- test takingA, B, C, D, E
- Test-taking actionsanswering, guessing, bubbling, circling, marking
- data destructionshredding, shredder, incineration, degaussing, overwriting
- backtrackingretreat, retracing steps, undoing, turning back, doubling back
- Shabbat prohibitionsplowing, sowing, reaping, threshing, winnowing
- removalremove, elimination, delete, removing, deleting
erasingwriting
Recorded language on surface
adding · inserting · recording · drawing · inscribing
erasingremembering
Retaining past information
commemorating · memorializing · recalling · recollecting · committing to memory
erase, eraser, erased, erases, erasure, unerasable, erasability