rub out

1 to bring to a complete end the physical soundness, existence, or usefulness of aerial bombs rubbed out the oil refinery Synonyms annihilate, cream, decimate, demolish, desolate, devastate, do in, extinguish, nuke, pull down, pulverize, raze, destroy, ruin, shatter, smash, tear down, total, vaporize, waste, wrack, wreckRelated Words beat, best, clobber, conquer, crush, defeat, drub, lick, master, overbear, overcome, overmatch, prevail (over), rout, scotch, skunk, subdue, surmount, thrash, trim, triumph (over), trounce, wallop, whip, win (against); blast, blow up, break, cripple, damage, deface, deteriorate, disfigure, disintegrate, dissolve, dynamite, harm, impair, injure, mangle, mar, mutilate, spoil, vitiate; erode, scour, sweep (away), wash out, wear (away); dilapidate, disassemble, dismantle, gut, take down, unbuild, undo, unmake; blot out, efface, eradicate, expunge, exterminate, extirpate, liquidate, obliterate, remove, root (out), snuff (out), stamp (out), wipe out; despoil, havoc, loot, pillage, plunder, ravage, sack, trample, trash, vandalize; assassinate, butcher, cut down, dispatch, execute, fell, kill, kill off, massacre, mow (down), murder, slaughter, slay, take out, zapNear Antonyms doctor, fix, mend, patch, recondition, repair, revamp; create, invent; assemble, fabricate, fashion, forge, form, frame, make, manufacture, mold, produce, shape; bring about, constitute, establish, father, found, institute, organize; conserve, preserve, protect, save; rebuild, reconstruct, remodel, renovate, restoreAntonyms build, construct, erect, put up, raise, rear, set up

2 to put to death deliberately an elaborate setup to rub out rival mobsters Synonyms assassinate, bump off, croak [slang], dispatch, do in, execute, get, ice [slang], knock off, liquidate, neutralize, off [slang], put away, murder, slay, snuff, take out, terminate, whack [slang]Related Words blow away, shoot, shoot down; blot out, carry off, claim, cut down, destroy, fell, kill, smite, zap; butcher, massacre, mow (down), slaughter; annihilate, eliminate, eradicate, exterminate, wipe outNear Antonyms animate, raise, restore, resurrect, resuscitate, revive

3 to destroy all traces of a promise to rub out the city's drug trade Synonyms abolish, black out, blot out, cancel, clean (up), efface, eradicate, erase, expunge, exterminate, extirpate, liquidate, obliterate, root (out), annihilate, snuff (out), stamp (out), sweep (away), wipe outRelated Words decimate, demolish, destroy, devastate, ravage; dismantle, flatten, mow (down), raze, tear down; ruin, total, waste, wreck; blast, blow up, dash, dynamite, smash; atomize, consume, devour, dissolve, fragment, powder, pulverize, shatter, splinter; doom, finish, kill, kill off, terminate, zap; cancel, cut, discard, ditch, eject, excise, expel, jettison, oust, throw outNear Antonyms conserve, preserve, protect, save; build, construct, create, fabricate, fashion, forge, form, frame, make, manufacture, shape; fix, mend, patch, rebuild, recondition, reconstruct, renew, renovate, repair, restore, revamp