obliterate

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• Received-Pronunciation: /əˈblɪtəɹət/
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• General-American: /əˈblɪtəɹət/
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• General-American: /oʊ-/
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• General-American: [-ɾə-]
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• Received-Pronunciation: /əˈblɪtəɹeɪt/
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• General-American: /əˈblɪtəˌɹeɪt/
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• General-American: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
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• CMU ARPABET: AH0 B L IH1 T ER0 EY2 T Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.
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Learned borrowing from Latin obliterātus (see more at Etymology 1 and -ate (adjective-forming suffix, of participial origin)).

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 to be forgotten”), probably either: * from ob- (prefix meaning ‘against; towards’) + littera (“letter of the alphabet; (metonymically) handwriting”) (further etymology unknown); or * from oblītus (“disregarded, neglected; forgotten”), influenced by littera. Oblītus is the perfect passive participle of oblinō (“to daub over, besmear”), from ob- + possibly ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *h1lengwh- (“not heavy, light; brief; swift”). Cognates * Catalan obliterar (“to erase; to cancel (a stamp); to close up or fill (a body cavity, vessel, etc.)”) * Middle French oblitérer (modern French oblitérer (“to cause (memories) to fade; to block, obstruct; to cancel (a stamp, ticket, etc.) so it cannot be reused”)) * Portuguese obliterar (“to destroy completely; to erase”) * Spanish obliterar (“to destroy completely; to erase”)

87 source translations are retained for this English entry.

• Arabic: عَفَا (ʕafā) — to destroy (someone or something) completely, leaving no trace
• Aramaic: ܟܦܪ — to destroy (someone or something) completely, leaving no trace
• Belarusian: вынішчыць (vyniščycʹ) — to destroy (someone or something) completely, leaving no trace
• Belarusian: вынішчаць (vyniščacʹ) — to destroy (someone or something) completely, leaving no trace
• Belarusian: знішчыць (zniščycʹ) — to destroy (someone or something) completely, leaving no trace
• Belarusian: знішчаць (zniščacʹ) — to destroy (someone or something) completely, leaving no trace
• Bulgarian: изличавам (izličavam) — to destroy (someone or something) completely, leaving no trace
• Bulgarian: унищожавам (uništožavam) — to destroy (someone or something) completely, leaving no trace
• Bulgarian: ни́щя (níštja) — to destroy (someone or something) completely, leaving no trace
• Catalan: anihilar — to destroy (someone or something) completely, leaving no trace
• Catalan: aniquilar — to destroy (someone or something) completely, leaving no trace
• Catalan: destrossar — to destroy (someone or something) completely, leaving no trace
• Catalan: destruir — to destroy (someone or something) completely, leaving no trace
• Catalan: esmicolar — to destroy (someone or something) completely, leaving no trace
• Chinese Mandarin: 滅 /灭 (miè) — to destroy (someone or something) completely, leaving no trace
• Chinese Mandarin: 衊 /蔑 (miè) — to destroy (someone or something) completely, leaving no trace
• Chinese Mandarin: 泯 (mǐn) — to destroy (someone or something) completely, leaving no trace
• Chinese Mandarin: 夷 (yí) — to destroy (someone or something) completely, leaving no trace
• Danish: tilintetgøre — to destroy (someone or something) completely, leaving no trace
• Danish: udslette — to destroy (someone or something) completely, leaving no trace
• Dutch: ecraseren — to destroy (someone or something) completely, leaving no trace
• Dutch: (archaic)uitwissen — to destroy (someone or something) completely, leaving no trace
• Esperanto: neniigi — to destroy (someone or something) completely, leaving no trace
• Finnish: hävittää — to destroy (someone or something) completely, leaving no trace
• Finnish: tuhota — to destroy (someone or something) completely, leaving no trace
• French: annihiler — to destroy (someone or something) completely, leaving no trace
• French: effacer — to destroy (someone or something) completely, leaving no trace
• French: écraser — to destroy (someone or something) completely, leaving no trace
• French: volatiliser — to destroy (someone or something) completely, leaving no trace
• French: anéantir — to destroy (someone or something) completely, leaving no trace
• French: pulvériser — to destroy (someone or something) completely, leaving no trace
• German: auslöschen — to destroy (someone or something) completely, leaving no trace
• German: verwischen — to destroy (someone or something) completely, leaving no trace
• Greek: εξαφανίζω (exafanízo) — to destroy (someone or something) completely, leaving no trace
• Hebrew: מָחָה (makha) — to destroy (someone or something) completely, leaving no trace
• Hebrew: הִכְחִיד (hikh-khid) — to destroy (someone or something) completely, leaving no trace
• Hungarian: eltöröl — to destroy (someone or something) completely, leaving no trace
• Hungarian: kiirt — to destroy (someone or something) completely, leaving no trace
• Icelandic: afmá — to destroy (someone or something) completely, leaving no trace
• Italian: obliterare — to destroy (someone or something) completely, leaving no trace
• Italian: annullare — to destroy (someone or something) completely, leaving no trace
• Italian: spazzare — to destroy (someone or something) completely, leaving no trace
• Japanese: 撃破する (gekiha suru) — to destroy (someone or something) completely, leaving no trace
• Japanese: 滅 (metsu) — to destroy (someone or something) completely, leaving no trace
• Korean: 말살하다 (malsalhada) — to destroy (someone or something) completely, leaving no trace
• Korean: 멸 (myeol) — to destroy (someone or something) completely, leaving no trace
• Korean: 멸망하다 (myeolmanghada) — to destroy (someone or something) completely, leaving no trace
• Latin: oblitterō — to destroy (someone or something) completely, leaving no trace
• Latin: annihilō — to destroy (someone or something) completely, leaving no trace
• Macedonian: сотре (sotre) — to destroy (someone or something) completely, leaving no trace
• Māori: urupatu — to destroy (someone or something) completely, leaving no trace
• Marathi: पुसणे (pusṇe) — to destroy (someone or something) completely, leaving no trace
• Norwegian Bokmål: utslette — to destroy (someone or something) completely, leaving no trace
• Norwegian Bokmål: utrydde — to destroy (someone or something) completely, leaving no trace
• Norwegian Nynorsk: utslette — to destroy (someone or something) completely, leaving no trace
• Norwegian Nynorsk: utsletta — to destroy (someone or something) completely, leaving no trace
• Polish: wyniszczać — to destroy (someone or something) completely, leaving no trace
• Polish: wyniszczyć — to destroy (someone or something) completely, leaving no trace
• Polish: zabijać — to destroy (someone or something) completely, leaving no trace
• Polish: zabić — to destroy (someone or something) completely, leaving no trace
• Polish: wymazywać — to destroy (someone or something) completely, leaving no trace
• Polish: wymazać — to destroy (someone or something) completely, leaving no trace
• Portuguese: obliterar — to destroy (someone or something) completely, leaving no trace
• Portuguese: aniquilar — to destroy (someone or something) completely, leaving no trace
• Russian: уничтожа́ть (uničtožátʹ) — to destroy (someone or something) completely, leaving no trace
• Russian: уничто́жить (uničtóžitʹ) — to destroy (someone or something) completely, leaving no trace
• Spanish: obliterar — to destroy (someone or something) completely, leaving no trace
• Spanish: aniquilar — to destroy (someone or something) completely, leaving no trace
• Spanish: arrasar — to destroy (someone or something) completely, leaving no trace
• Spanish: borrar — to destroy (someone or something) completely, leaving no trace
• Spanish: destruir — to destroy (someone or something) completely, leaving no trace
• Spanish: remover — to destroy (someone or something) completely, leaving no trace
• Swedish: utplåna — to destroy (someone or something) completely, leaving no trace
• Tamil: அழி (aḻi) — to destroy (someone or something) completely, leaving no trace
• Thai: ล้าง (láang) — to destroy (someone or something) completely, leaving no trace
• Ottoman Turkish: افنا ایتمك (ifna etmek) — to destroy (someone or something) completely, leaving no trace
• Ottoman Turkish: قازیمق (kazımak) — to destroy (someone or something) completely, leaving no trace
• Ukrainian: зни́щувати (znýščuvaty) — to destroy (someone or something) completely, leaving no trace
• Ukrainian: зни́щити (znýščyty) — to destroy (someone or something) completely, leaving no trace
• Vietnamese: mạt sát — to destroy (someone or something) completely, leaving no trace
• Welsh: dileu — to destroy (someone or something) completely, leaving no trace
• Welsh: difodi — to destroy (someone or something) completely, leaving no trace
• Catalan: obliterar — to impair the function and/or structure of (a body cavity, vessel, etc.) by ablating or occluding it
• Finnish: täyttää — to impair the function and/or structure of (a body cavity, vessel, etc.) by ablating or occluding it
• Finnish: hävittää — to destroy completely, leaving no trace
• Finnish: tuhota — to destroy completely, leaving no trace
• Finnish: täyttyä — of a body cavity, vessel, etc.: to close up or fill with tissue; of perfusion or a pulse: to cease owing to obstruction