obliterate

obliterate — verb

1. to destroy, hide, or wear down something so thoroughly that no visible trace of

1.verbtransitiveC1
Definition

to destroy, hide, or wear down something so thoroughly that no visible trace of it is left behind, whether by force, by covering, or by the slow effect of time.

Example

The earthquake obliterated three small villages along the coast of Honshu.

obliterate + [physical place] (force / destruction)

Heavy snow had obliterated the path leading up to the cabin.

obliterate by covering / concealing

Common collocations
  • completely obliterated
  • obliterate the marks
  • obliterate the writing
  • obliterate the village
Synonyms
  • destroy

    more general; doesn't always mean every trace is gone

  • wipe out

    informal; often used for groups, populations, or scores

  • efface

    formal; usually for marks, writing, or memory

  • raze

    specifically for buildings or settlements flattened to the ground

Antonyms
  • preserve

    to keep something in its original state

  • restore

    to bring something destroyed or faded back to its earlier form

Grammar Patterns

obliterate + noun

be obliterated by + agent

Usage Note

Frequently passive, with the agent introduced by 'by' (an event, weather, or weapon). Object is usually something that previously existed clearly — a town, a path, writing, or a mark — and the verb implies the result is total, not partial.

Common Mistakes

The rain obliterated the windows a little.
The rain blurred the windows a little.
'obliterate' means a complete result; pair partial change with verbs like 'blur' or 'fade'.
She obliterated her old phone number from the list.
She crossed her old phone number off the list.
for a quick edit by hand, use 'cross out' or 'delete'; 'obliterate' suggests no trace remains.

2. to make a thought, feeling, or memory go away entirely, so that a person no long

2.verbtransitiveC1
Definition

to make a thought, feeling, or memory go away entirely, so that a person no longer notices it or can no longer call it to mind — for example, when good news pushes earlier worry out of someone's head.

Example

One kind smile from Mei obliterated all of Daniel's earlier doubts about her.

obliterate + [feelings / doubts]

The shock of the accident had obliterated her memory of the entire afternoon.

obliterate + memory of + [event]

Common collocations
  • obliterate the memory
  • obliterate all doubt
  • obliterate the pain
  • obliterate from one's mind
Synonyms
  • erase

    more neutral; often used for memory or records

  • wipe

    informal; common in 'wipe from one's memory'

  • extinguish

    formal; usually for hope, passion, or feelings

Antonyms
  • remember

    to keep an idea or feeling alive in the mind

  • retain

    to hold on to a thought or memory deliberately

Grammar Patterns

obliterate + abstract noun (memory, doubt, hope)

Usage Note

Object is almost always an abstract noun — memory, doubt, fear, hope, pain. Distinguish from sense 1: this sense never takes a physical object such as a town or a road, only something that exists inside someone's mind.

Common Mistakes

I want to obliterate this bad memory in a few weeks.
I want to forget this bad memory in a few weeks.
'obliterate' implies the memory is gone in one stroke, not a gradual process; use 'forget' or 'get over' for that.

Word family

  • obliteration
    nounC2
  • obliterated
    adjectiveC1

Synonym discussion

Sense: verb/1

All five verbs describe getting rid of something, but the scope and feel differ. 'Destroy' is the broadest — it just means to ruin something so it no longer works, and the result may still leave wreckage behind. 'Obliterate' goes further: it suggests every visible sign is gone, whether by violence, by covering, or by slow wear. 'Raze' is narrower still and almost only used for buildings, towns, or forests flattened to ground level. 'Erase' tends to be lighter — wiping pencil off paper or a name off a list — and is often reversible. 'Wipe out' is informal and good for whole groups or scores, as in 'the disease wiped out the herd'. So a fire might destroy a library, raze it, and obliterate the manuscripts inside — three angles on the same event.

obliterate ↗destroy ↗erase ↗wipe out ↗raze

Common collocations

Nouns

Adverbs

Phrases

  • obliterate all trace of
  • be obliterated by
  • obliterate from memory

Prepositions

  • from (a list / one's mind)
  • by (an agent or force)

Etymology

LatinEnglish

Borrowed into English in the early 1600s from Latin 'obliterare', meaning 'to blot out a letter'. The Latin verb is built from 'ob-' ('against, over') and 'litera' ('letter of the alphabet'), so the original idea is literally striking through written words on a page. From that scribal image English extended the meaning outward — first to wiping out any kind of mark, then to wiping out physical things such as towns and finally to wiping out feelings or memories from the mind.