as in to erase
to destroy all traces of
when the supply ship finally arrived, it discovered that virtually all evidence of the colony at Roanoke had been effaced
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Recent Examples of efface
Each offers a lesson for tomorrow’s leaders who want to leverage this technology without effacing the human touch.
—
Michael Ashley,
Forbes.com,
20 Feb. 2026
The leaps in time have the eerie effect of effacing time—the layered succession of images implying their simultaneity in Lidia’s mind.
—
Richard Brody,
New Yorker,
13 Jan. 2026
This collection represents his earnest and thrilling mission to efface the line between poetry and prose, to introduce us to the possibility that each is affirmed and made complete by the other.
—
Emma Alpern,
Vulture,
2 Dec. 2025
Too many passages elsewhere live in a prose flat as freshly milled oak planks:
Those traces of my youth
Were not effaced by the momentum of the seasons
Only.
—
William Logan,
New York Times,
11 Apr. 2025
See All Example Sentences for efface
Michael Ashley,
Forbes.com,
20 Feb. 2026
The leaps in time have the eerie effect of effacing time—the layered succession of images implying their simultaneity in Lidia’s mind.
—
Richard Brody,
New Yorker,
13 Jan. 2026
This collection represents his earnest and thrilling mission to efface the line between poetry and prose, to introduce us to the possibility that each is affirmed and made complete by the other.
—
Emma Alpern,
Vulture,
2 Dec. 2025
Too many passages elsewhere live in a prose flat as freshly milled oak planks:
Those traces of my youth
Were not effaced by the momentum of the seasons
Only.
—
William Logan,
New York Times,
11 Apr. 2025
See All Example Sentences for efface
Recent Examples of Synonyms for efface
Verb
-
By the time the boundary issues were partially corrected in the 1960s, both the cemetery and the surrounding Black community had been largely erased from public memory.
-
Still, state environmental officials and weather experts say the rainfall deficits dating back to last fall have not been completely erased.
Verb
-
Incomplete or inappropriate antibiotic courses amplify this effect by exposing bacteria to sub-therapeutic drug concentrations without eradicating them.
-
Building new sterile fly production facilities in the Southwest helped eradicate the flies in that region too, and by 1966, the US was declared officially screwworm-free.
Verb
-
Avila Chevalier survived a deluge of attacks for previous social media posts that called for abolishing the police and prisons.
-
Earlier this month, the bloc also released more information about its own plans for abolishing its de minimis exemption on June 30.
Cite this Entry
“Efface.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/efface. Accessed 28 Jun. 2026.
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