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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—known as puncta delentia—can help you remember the history of expunge. Puncta comes 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
Bilge Ebiri, Vulture, 4 Sep. 2025
Earlier this month, Angles, Johnson’s attorney, filed a motion to expunge the charge from his client’s record.
—Laura Bauer, Kansas City Star, 22 Aug. 2025
The university agreed to expunge the trans athlete's records and apologize to all the female athletes affected by Thomas' presence on the women's team.
—Jackson Thompson, FOXNews.com, 16 Aug. 2025
Family's attorneys claim First Amendment protections The Merrills are asking the judge to expunge the suspension from their son's record and bar the school from implementing its discipline policy against students exercising constitutional First Amendment rights.
—Taylor Seely, AZCentral.com, 13 Aug. 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 9 Sep. 2025.
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expunge
transitive verb
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