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Allin

erase

verbnouncommon in dialogue

  • Canada//ɪˈɹeɪs//
  • Canada//i-//
  • Australia//ɪˈɹeɪz//

To remove (markings or information).

verb

  1. 1

    To remove (markings or information).

    I erased that word from the page because it was wrong.

  2. 2

    To obliterate information from (a storage medium), such as to clear or (with magnetic storage) to demagnetize.

    I'm going to erase this tape.

  3. 3

    To obliterate (information) from a storage medium, such as to clear or to overwrite.

    I'm going to erase those files.

  4. 4

    To remove a runner from the bases via a double play or pick off play

    Jones was erased by a 6-4-3 double play.

    C.J. Henderson has the speed and anticipation to erase receivers all over the field, and his athleticism is absurd; according to Bruce Feldman of The Athletic, Henderson bench presses 380 pounds and squats 545.

  5. 5

    To be erased (have markings removed, have information removed, or be cleared of information).

    The chalkboard erased easily.

    The files will erase quickly.

  6. 6

    To disregard (a group, an orientation, etc.); to prevent from having an active role in society.

    I suggest, then, that counterdiscourses, when reductive, tend to emulate the screen discourse that erases gay sociality.

    As a result, Palestinians are hyperpresent in Israeli media, while Mizrahim are erased from public discourse.

    Silence around Native sexuality benefits the colonizers and erases queer Native people from their communities.

  7. 7

    slangTo kill; assassinate.

Etymology

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *h₁éǵʰ Proto-Indo-European *-s Proto-Indo-European *h₁éǵʰs Proto-Italic *eks Latin ex Latin ex- Proto-Italic *razdō Latin radō Latin ērādō Proto-Indo-European *-tós Proto-Italic *-tos Latin -tus Latin ērāsusder. English erase From Latin ērāsus, past participle of ērādere (“to scrape, to abrade”), from ex- (“out of”) + radere (“to scrape”). Compare Middle English arasen, aracen (“to eradicate, erase”). Displaced native Old English dilegian.

noun

  1. 1

    The operation of deleting data.

    This subsystem is waiting to become Exclusive after having issued an erase.

Forms

plural
erases
past tense
erased
past participle
erased
present participle
erasing
third person singular
erases
The neighbouring pagesAlphabetical order follows the rules of the language, not byte values: an accent decides only between two otherwise identical words, and Spanish files Ñ as a letter of its own.

Lexical content from Wiktionary, under CC BY-SA 4.0 · Source entry · Data version 2026-08-23

Rank among the words of the OpenSubtitles 2018 corpus — film and television subtitles, so spoken rather than written usage (CC BY-SA 3.0).