obliterate Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. verb mark for deletion, rub off, or erase
    wipe out; kill.
    • kill these lines in the President's speech
  2. verb make undecipherable or imperceptible by obscuring or concealing
    hide; obscure; veil; blot out.
    • a hidden message
    • a veiled threat
  3. verb remove completely from recognition or memory
    efface.
    • efface the memory of the time in the camps
  4. verb do away with completely, without leaving a trace
  5. adjective satellite reduced to nothingness
    blotted out; obliterated.

WordNet

Ob*lit"er*ate transitive verb
Etymology
L. obliteratus, p.p. of obliterare to obliterate; ob (see Ob-) + litera, littera, letter. See Letter.
Wordforms
imperfect & past participle Obliterated ; present participle & verbal noun Obliterating
Definitions
  1. To erase or blot out; to efface; to render undecipherable, as a writing.
  2. To wear out; to remove or destroy utterly by any means; to render imperceptible; as. to obliterate ideas; to obliterate the monuments of antiquity.
    The harsh and bitter feelings of this or that experience are slowly obliterated. W. Black.
Ob*lit"er*ate adjective
Definitions
  1. (Zoöl.) Scarcely distinct; -- applied to the markings of insects.

Webster 1913