obliterate

Pronunciation: /əˈblɪtəɹeɪt/

The English word “obliterate” has 9 meanings listed here.

verb

To destroy (someone or something) completely, leaving no trace; to annihilate, to wipe out.
To hide (something) by covering it; to conceal, to obscure.
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.
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).
To cancel (a postage stamp) with a postmark so it cannot be reused.
To be destroyed completely, leaving no trace.
Of a body cavity, vessel, etc.: to close up or fill with tissue; of perfusion or a pulse: to cease owing to obstruction.

adjective

Completely destroyed or erased; effaced, obliterated.
Of markings on an insect: difficult to distinguish from the background; faint, indistinct.

Etymology

PIE word *h₁epi (start of 17th century) From earlier obliterat, learned borrowing from Latin obliterātus, oblitterātus (“having been blotted out, effaced, erased; having been forgotten”) (see -ate (verb-forming suffix, of participial origin)). Obliterātus and oblitterātus are respectively the perfect passive participles of obliterō and oblitterō (“to blot out, efface, erase, obliterate; to cause…

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Definitions are from Wiktionary, extracted by Kaikki.org, and are available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.