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In medieval and Renaissance manuscripts, a series of dots was used to mark mistakes or to label material that should be deleted from a text, and those deletion dots can help you remember the history of expunge. They were known as puncta delentia. The puncta part of the name derives from the Latin verb pungere, which can be translated as "to prick or sting" (and you can imagine that a scribe may have felt stung when their mistakes were so punctuated in a manuscript). Pungere is also an ancestor of expunge, as well as a parent of other dotted, pointed, or stinging terms such as punctuate, compunction, poignant, puncture, and pungent.
Examples of expunge in a Sentence
Michael R. Wickline, Arkansas Online, 17 Apr. 2025
The tower was charged with larceny and participated in a diversion program, after which his record was expunged.
—Ginny Monk, Hartford Courant, 8 Apr. 2025
Their efforts led federal courts to affirm the very rights termination had sought to expunge.
—Alyssa Kreikemeier, The Conversation, 28 Mar. 2025
The department noted there are no records of visits to the Sullivan home on file because reports of neglect and abuse that are unsubstantiated are expunged from its system after five years.
—Peter D'abrosca, Fox News, 21 Mar. 2025
See All Example Sentences for expunge
Cite this Entry
“Expunge.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/expunge. Accessed 30 Apr. 2025.
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expunge
transitive verb
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