erasure
Making something vanish
Erasure is the act of erasing or the state of being erased—the removal of marks, records, or traces.
You might correct an erasure on a form or notice erasures in a ledger.
The word extends to figurative removal: the erasure of someone's contributions from history, the erasure of cultural identity.
In critical theory, erasure describes the systematic omission or marginalization of groups from discourse or representation.
Removal of content
- removalAct of taking away
- obliterationTotal destruction or erasure
- expunctionAct of erasing completely
- effacementAct of erasing completely
expungement · excision · wiping · striking · crossing-out · blotting · scrubbing · whiteout
Without legal effect
- gapUnfilled space between
- blankWithout marks or content
- vacancyUnoccupied space or position
- emptinessAbsence of substance
nothingness · missing · invisibility · nonexistence · disappearance · vanishing · lack · vacuum
Obscuring sensitive text
- suppressionForcible prevention or concealment
- silencingStopping noise or dissent
- bowdlerizationSanitizing offensive literary content
- expurgationRemoval of offensive content
sanitization · banning · blacklisting · prohibition · concealment · whitewashing · cover-up · revision
Analysis exposing self-contradiction
- DerridaGrammatology's French author
- traceMinute remnant or pursue
- absenceState of not being
- presenceState of being somewhere
palimpsest · supplement · marginalization · silencing · othering · hegemony · subaltern · invisibilization
Pathological loss of recall
- oblivionComplete erasure from memory
- forgetfulnessFailure to retain information
- fadingGradual loss of intensity
- lapseBrief failure or expiration
blankness · neglect · omission · disremembering · fugue · lethe · repression · suppression
deletion
Removal of content
- removalAct of taking away
- obliterationTotal destruction or erasure
- expunctionAct of erasing completely
effacement · expungement · excision · wiping · striking · crossing-out · blotting · scrubbing · whiteout · backspace
void
Without legal effect
emptiness · nothingness · missing · invisibility · nonexistence · disappearance · vanishing · lack · vacuum · space
redaction
Obscuring sensitive text
- suppressionForcible prevention or concealment
- silencingStopping noise or dissent
- bowdlerizationSanitizing offensive literary content
expurgation · sanitization · banning · blacklisting · prohibition · concealment · whitewashing · cover-up · revision · falsification
deconstruction
Analysis exposing self-contradiction
presence · palimpsest · supplement · marginalization · silencing · othering · hegemony · subaltern · invisibilization · representation
amnesia
Pathological loss of recall
- oblivionComplete erasure from memory
- forgetfulnessFailure to retain information
- fadingGradual loss of intensity
lapse · blankness · neglect · omission · disremembering · fugue · lethe · repression · suppression · burying
rubber
Elastic polymer from trees
- whiteoutSnow blindness weather
- solventDissolving liquid or financially stable
- sandpaperAbrasive-coated finishing material
abrasion · scrubbing · rubbing · buffing · sanding · stripping · removing · cleaning · bleaching · fading
- exclusionsexclude, exclusion, excluding, except, exception
- scribal errorsmetathesis, interpolation, lacuna, omission, transposition
- identityidentity, personal identity, self, selfhood, self-expression
- deletiondelete, cross out, strike out, strikethrough, scratch out
- lossesblood loss, hair loss, hearing loss, job loss, memory loss
- privacyprivacy, private, seclusion, confidentiality, solitude
erasurecreation
Making something exist
preservation · establishment · retention · maintenance · perpetuation
erasurepreservation
Maintaining something's condition
remembrance · documentation · commemoration · memorialization · archiving
erasureinclusion
Being made part
recognition · visibility · acknowledgment · integration · representation
- cultural erasureDestroying group identity markers
- memory erasureEliminating stored recollections