• from ob- + littera (further etymology unknown); or
• from oblītus, influenced by littera.
• Catalan obliterar
• Middle French oblitérer (modern French oblitérer)
• Portuguese obliterar
• Spanish obliterar

• • (RP) IPA: /əˈblɪtəɹeɪt/
  • (America) IPA: /əˈblɪtəˌɹeɪt/, /oʊ-/, [-ɾə-]
  • (RP) IPA: /əˈblɪtəɹət/
  • (America) IPA: /əˈblɪtəɹət/, /oʊ-/, [-ɾə-]

obliterate (obliterates, present participle obliterating; simple past and past participle obliterated)

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

      Synonyms: bedash, do away with, eradicate, extirpate, raze, uproot, Thesaurus:destroy

      • 1605, Francis Bacon, “The First Booke”, in The Twoo Bookes of Francis Bacon. Of the Proficience and Aduancement of Learning, Diuine and Humane, London: […] [Thomas Purfoot and Thomas Creede] for Henrie Tomes, […], →OCLC ↗, folio 31, recto ↗:

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

      • 1675, Richard Baxter, “[The First Book.] The First Part: […]. Section XVIII. A Confutation of Dr. Twisse’s Digr. 5. l. 2. Sect. 1. Vind. Grat.”, in Richard Baxter’s Catholick Theologie: […], London: […] Robert White, for Nevill Simmons […], →OCLC ↗, paragraph 588, page 94 ↗:

        This opinion ſeemeth to me, to leave very little or no place for the Chriſtian Religion. For […] It obliterateth the notion of Gods Holineſs, vvhich to be no Holineſs, but a common or indifferent thing.

      • 1701, Nehemiah Grew, “Of Mind. And First, of Phancy, or Phantastick Mind.”, in Cosmologia Sacra: Or A Discourse of the Universe as It is the Creature and Kingdom of God. […], London: […] W[illiam] Rogers, S[amuel] Smith, and B[enjamin] Walford: […], →OCLC ↗, 2nd book, paragraph 21, page 43 ↗:

        VVhen vve forget Things; either the Impreſſions are obliterated, or the Images diſſolved into their firſt Principles, or Exterminated from the Brain, vvith the Current of the Animal Spirits into the Nerves.

      • 1849, Thomas Babington Macaulay, chapter IV, in The History of England from the Accession of James II, volume I, London: Longman, Brown, Green, and Longmans, →OCLC ↗, page 450 ↗:

        All tenderness for the feelings of others, all selfrespect, all sense of the becoming, were obliterated from his [George Jeffreys, 1st Baron Jeffreys's] mind.

      • 1872, Walt Whitman, “[Collect.] Preface, 1872, to ‘As a Strong Bird on Pinions Free,’ (now ‘Thou Mother with Thy Equal Brood,’ in Permanent Ed’n.).”, in Specimen Days & Collect, Philadelphia, Pa.: Rees Welsh & Co., […], published 1882–1883, →OCLC ↗, page 279 ↗:

        The Four Years' War is over— […] A new race, a young and lusty generation, already sweeps in with oceanic currents, obliterating the war, and all its scars, its mounded graves, and all its reminiscences of hatred, conflict, death. So let it be obliterated.

      • 1876, William Black, “England, Farewell!”, in Madcap Violet. […], volume II, London: Macmillan and Co., →OCLC ↗, pages 182–183 ↗:

        That is what distance does for us; the harsh and bitter feelings of this or that experience are slowly obliterated, and memory begins to look kindly on the past.

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

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

      • 1607, Edward Topsell, “The English Bloudhounde”, in The Historie of Fovre-footed Beastes. […], London: […] William Iaggard, →OCLC ↗, page 152 ↗:

        Likevviſe the fragrancy of euery greene herbe yeeldeth ſuch a ſauour, as doth not a little obliterate and ouerſvvay the ſauour of the beaſt: […]

   3. (also, figuratively) 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.

      Hyponyms: deface, paint out, (of text) mark out, (of text) strike through; see also Thesaurus:delete

      • 1611, Iohn Speed [i.e., John Speed], “Antoninus Heliogabalus”, in The History of Great Britaine under the Conquests of yͤ Romans, Saxons, Danes and Normans. […], London: […] William Hall and John Beale, for John Sudbury and George Humble, […], →OCLC ↗, book VI ([The Romans] […]), paragraph 6, page 235 ↗, column 1:

        The Senate approuing all that vvas done, decreed that his name ſhould bee obliterated out of all monuments in Rome, and neuer any Antoninus (a name before very gratious) ſhould rule againe their Empire: ſo odious vvas the remembrance of this Image of Ignominy.

      • 1642, H[enry] M[ore], “ΨΥΧΑΘΑΝΑΣΙΑ [Psychathanasia] Platonica: Or A Platonicall Poem of the Immortality of Souls, Especially Mans Soul”, in ΨΥΧΩΔΙΑ [Psychōdia] Platonica: Or A Platonicall Song of the Soul, […], Cambridge, Cambridgeshire: […] Roger Daniel, printer to the Universitie, →OCLC ↗, book 2, canto 3, stanza 11, page 19 ↗:

        As vvhen a name lodg'd in the memory, / But yet through time almoſt obliterate, / Confuſely hovers near the phantaſie: / The man that's thus affected bids relate / A catologue of names.

      • 1676, [Matthew Hale], “Of the Knowledge of Christ Crucified”, in Contemplations Moral and Divine. […], London: […] William Godbid, for William Shrowsbury […], and John Leigh […], →OCLC ↗, page 247 ↗:

        Becauſe our Conſcience is ſprinkled by the blood of Chriſt, vvhich defaceth and obliterateth all thoſe black Items, that othervviſe vvould be continually calling upon us.

      • 1843, Edward Bulwer[-]Lytton, “Ill Fares the Country Mouse in the Traps of Town”, in The Last of the Barons, London; New York, N.Y.: George Routledge and Sons […], →OCLC ↗, book II (The King’s Court), page 66 ↗:

        The walls had been rudely painted, (for arras then was rare, even among the wealthiest,) but the colours were half obliterated by time and damp.

      • 1891, Thomas Hardy, Tess of the d'Urbervilles: A Pure Woman Faithfully Presented […], volume (please specify |volume=I to III), London: James R[ipley] Osgood, McIlvaine and Co., […], →OCLC ↗:

        At least she could not be comfortable there till long years should have obliterated her keen consciousness of it.

      • 1907 August, Robert W[illiam] Chambers, “Silverside”, in The Younger Set, New York, N.Y.: D. Appleton & Company, →OCLC ↗, page 316 ↗:

        Elbows almost touching they leaned at ease, idly reading the almost obliterated lines engraved there. "I never understood it," she observed, lightly scornful. "What occult meaning has a sun-dial for the spooney? I'm sure I don't want to read riddles in a strange gentleman's optics."

        An adjective use.

   4. (biology, pathology, surgery, chiefly, passive) 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).
   5. (philately) To cancel (a postage stamp) with a postmark so it cannot be reused.
2. (intransitive)
   1. To be destroyed completely, leaving no trace.
   2. (biology, pathology) Of a body cavity, vessel, etc.: to close up or fill with tissue; of perfusion or a pulse: to cease owing to obstruction.

      distal pulses obliterate until perfusion is restored

• obliteration

• French: annihiler, effacer, écraser, volatiliser, anéantir, pulvériser
• German: auslöschen, verwischen
• Italian: obliterare, annullare, spazzare
• Portuguese: obliterar, aniquilar
• Russian: уничтожа́ть
• Spanish: obliterar, aniquilar, arrasar, borrar, destruir, remover

obliterate (obsolete)

1. (except, poetic) Completely destroyed or erased; effaced, obliterated.
   • 1628 January 4 (Gregorian calendar), John Donne, “Sermon V. Preached at St. Paul’s on Christmas-Day, 1627.”, in Henry Alford, editor, The Works of John Donne, D.D., […], volume I, London: John W[illiam] Parker, […], published 1839, →OCLC ↗, page 90 ↗:

     [G]o to the herald's office, […] and thou shalt find in that office as many records of attainted families, and escheated families, and impoverished and forgotten, and obliterate families, as of families newly erected and presently celebrated.

   • 1647, Theodore de la Guard [pseudonym; Nathaniel Ward], The Simple Cobler of Aggawam in America. […], London: […] J[ohn] D[ever] & R[obert] I[bbitson] for Stephen Bowtell, […], →OCLC ↗, page 32 ↗:

     It may maintain a bright conjecture, againſt a ruſty Truth: a legible poſſeſſion, againſt an obliterate Claime: […]

   • 1659, Henry More, chapter IV, in The Immortality of the Soul, so Farre Forth as It is Demonstrable from the Knowledge of Nature and the Light of Reason, London: […] J[ames] Flesher, for William Morden […], →OCLC ↗, book III, paragraph 9, page 374 ↗:

     And they being in a capacity to forget by reaſon of deſuetude, it vvill be a nevv pleaſure to them to recall to minde their almoſt obliterate ſpeculations.

2. (entomology, rare) Of markings on an insect: difficult to distinguish from the background; faint, indistinct.