EFFACE

obliterate, efface

(verb) remove completely from recognition or memory; “efface the memory of the time in the camps”

erase, rub out, score out, efface, wipe off

(verb) remove by or as if by rubbing or erasing; “Please erase the formula on the blackboard--it is wrong!”

efface

(verb) make inconspicuous; “efface oneself”

Source: WordNet® 3.1


Etymology

Verb

efface (third-person singular simple present effaces, present participle effacing, simple past and past participle effaced)

(transitive) To erase (as anything impressed or inscribed upon a surface); to render illegible or indiscernible.

(transitive) To cause to disappear as if by rubbing out or striking out.

(reflexive) To make oneself inobtrusive as if due to modesty or diffidence.

(medicine) Of the cervix during pregnancy, to thin and stretch in preparation for labor.

Anagrams

• Caffee

Source: Wiktionary


Ef*face", v. t. [imp. & p. p. Effaced; p. pr. & vb. n. Effacing.] Etym: [F. effacer; pref. es- (L. ex) + face face; prop., to destroy the face or form. See Face, and cf. Deface.]

1. To cause to disappear (as anything impresses or inscribed upon a surface) by rubbing out, striking out, etc.; to erase; to render illegible or indiscernible; as, to efface the letters on a monument, or the inscription on a coin.

2. To destroy, as a mental impression; to wear away. Efface from his mind the theories and notions vulgarly received. Bacon.

Syn.

– To blot out; expunge; erase; obliterate; cancel; destroy.

– Efface, Deface. To deface is to injure or impair a figure; to efface is to rub out or destroy, so as to render invisible.

Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition



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Word of the Day

24 May 2025

EARTHSHAKING

(adjective) sufficiently significant to affect the whole world; “earthshaking proposals”; “the contest was no world-shaking affair”; “the conversation...could hardly be called world-shattering”


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Coffee Trivia

According to Guinness World Records, the largest collection of coffee pots belongs to Robert Dahl (Germany) and consists of 27,390 coffee pots as of 2 November 2012, in Rövershagen, Germany.

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