delete

verb

de·​lete di-ˈlēt 

dē-

deleted; deleting

transitive verb

: to eliminate especially by blotting out, cutting out, or erasing

delete a passage in a manuscript

delete a computer file

The email was accidentally deleted.

deletable

di-ˈlē-tə-bəl 

dē-

adjective

an easily deletable photo

Synonyms of delete

• cancel
• erase
• remove
• censor

Examples of delete in a Sentence

Delete this name from the list.

When the movie was shown on TV all the swearwords had been deleted.

Recent Examples on the Web

According to The Hollywood Reporter, Kardashian actually deleted an earlier version of the post but then put it back up. —Jon Blistein, Rolling Stone, 7 Nov. 2025

Baldoni's lawyers later claimed in a letter to Judge Lewis Liman that Lively previously requested for Swift to delete the women's text messages. —Edward Segarra, USA Today, 7 Nov. 2025

The White House deleted a post featuring an altered New York Knicks logo following Zohran Mamdani’s victory in the city’s mayoral election after the team reportedly contacted officials about it. —Scott Thompson, FOXNews.com, 6 Nov. 2025

Grande's plea to her followers has since been deleted. —Tommy McArdle, PEOPLE, 4 Nov. 2025

Word History

Etymology

Latin deletus, past participle of delēre to wipe out, destroy

First Known Use

1540, in the meaning defined above

Phrases Containing delete

• delete key

Rhymes for delete

• amit
• athlete
• backseat
• blackfeet
• broadsheet
• browbeat
• buckwheat
• compete
• compleat
• complete
• conceit
• concrete

Kids Definition

delete

verb

de·​lete di-ˈlēt 

deleted; deleting

: to eliminate especially by blotting out, cutting out, or erasing

delete a part of the story

delete a computer file

deletion

di-ˈlē-shən

noun