obliterates

Verb

obliterate (third-person singular simple present obliterates, present participle obliterating, simple past and past participle obliterated)

1. (transitive) To destroy (someone or something) completely, leaving no trace; to annihilate, to wipe out.
   • [H]e [Pope Gregory I] deſigned to obliterate and extinguiſh the memorie of Heathen antiquitie and Authors.1605, Francis Bacon, “The First Booke”, in The Twoo Bookes of Francis Bacon. Of the Proficience and Aduancement of Learning, Diuine and Humane, London: […] [Thomas Purfoot and Thomas Creede] for...

   Synonyms:

   bedash, do away with, eradicate, extirpate, raze, uproot, destroy, annihilate, aerosolize, atomize

2. (transitive) To hide (something) by covering it; to conceal, to obscure.
   • The rainclouds obliterated the sun as they swept across the sky.
3. (also, figuratively, transitive) 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.
   • The Senate approuing all that vvas done, decreed that his name ſhould bee obliterated out of all monuments in Rome, and neuer any Antoninus (a name before very gratious) ſhould rule againe their Empire: ſo odious vvas the remembrance of this Image of Ignominy.1611, Iohn Speed [i.e., John Speed], “Antoninus Heliogabalus”, in The History of Great Britaine under the Conquests of yͤ Romans, Saxons, Danes and Normans. […], London: […] William Hall and John...
4. (transitive, chiefly passive voice) 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).
   • In the developing embryo the foregut is surrounded by a group of vascular structures of bilateral distribution connected with the branchial arches. Portions of these arches are obliterated to form the normally described aorta and great vessels. The ultimate persistence of only one main vascular...1959 September, F. Ronald Edwards, “Vascular Compression of the Trachea and Oesophagus”, in N[orman] R[upert] Barrett, J[ohn] G[uyett] Scadding, editors, Thorax, volume XIV, number 3, London: British...
5. (transitive) To cancel (a postage stamp) with a postmark so it cannot be reused.
6. (intransitive) To be destroyed completely, leaving no trace.

See all 9 meanings of obliterate