expunge
Strike from records
To expunge is to remove or erase completely, especially from a record or memory.
Courts expunge criminal convictions, making them legally invisible: She petitioned to have her arrest expunged.
The word suggests thorough elimination—not just crossing out but obliterating, as if the thing never existed.
He tried to expunge the memory from his mind.
Remove recorded marks
- deleteRemove or erase
- removeTake something away
- effaceEliminate from view
- obliterateDestroy all traces of
wipe · blot out · strike · excise · redact · edit out · cross out · scratch out
Declare legally void
rescind · abrogate · revoke · invalidate · overturn · repeal · set aside · dissolve
Destroy completely, leaving nothing
- eradicateDestroy completely, utterly
- exterminateDestroy completely, every one
- eliminateRemove completely
- extirpateDestroy utterly, completely
wipe out · stamp out · root out · abolish · liquidate · decimate · extinguish · destroy
erase
Remove recorded marks
obliterate · wipe · blot out · strike · excise · redact · edit out · cross out · scratch out · rub out
annul
Declare legally void
nullify · rescind · abrogate · revoke · invalidate · overturn · repeal · set aside · dissolve · countermand
annihilate
Destroy completely, leaving nothing
- eradicateDestroy completely, utterly
- exterminateDestroy completely, every one
- eliminateRemove completely
extirpate · wipe out · stamp out · root out · abolish · liquidate · decimate · extinguish · destroy · demolish
cleanse
Remove dirt or sin
exorcise · banish · dispel · wash away · sweep away · flush out · clear out · detoxify · decontaminate
exonerate
Clear of wrongdoing
vindicate · clear · absolve · amnesty · clemency · reprieve · exculpate · redeem · discharge · liberate
- blot outerase, delete, wipe out, cross out, scratch out
- deletiondelete, erase, erasure, cross out, strike out
- Destroydestroy, annihilate, obliterate, demolish, devastate
- removalremove, elimination, delete, erasing, erase
- root outroot out, flush out, ferret out, smoke out, weed out
- data destructionshredding, shredder, incineration, degaussing, overwriting
- record expungementLegal removal of convictions