RUBBED OUT Synonyms: 211 Similar and Opposite Words

rubbed out

verb

past tense of rub out

as in destroyed

to bring to a complete end the physical soundness, existence, or usefulness of aerial bombs rubbed out the oil refinery

Synonyms & Similar Words

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Antonyms & Near Antonyms

as in assassinated

to put to death deliberately an elaborate setup to rub out rival mobsters

Synonyms & Similar Words

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

as in eradicated

to destroy all traces of a promise to rub out the city's drug trade

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Antonyms & Near Antonyms

Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Recent Examples of rubbed out This treacherous gang has phenomenally rubbed out many signatures of independence in a very short time. — Voice Of The People, New York Daily News, 14 June 2026 But an Irish knock-on rubbed out a try for Jack Conan, and the second chance was turned over by Mann. — ABC News, 6 Mar. 2026 No Mob boss, cheerfully decreeing that an inconvenient witness be rubbed out, could be more resolute. — Anthony Lane, New Yorker, 22 Sep. 2025

Recent Examples of Synonyms for rubbed out

Verb

The Russian Defense Ministry on Friday said its air defenses intercepted and destroyed 629 Ukrainian drones overnight over 14 Russian regions, as well as illegally annexed Crimea and the Azov and the Black seas.

— Arkansas Online, Arkansas Online, 19 Sep. 2026
In the course of three weeks, Israeli soldiers destroyed much of the area, razing schools and mosques and commandeering buildings for use as military posts.

— Ruth Margalit, New Yorker, 19 Sep. 2026

Definition of destroyed

Verb

In the late 1990s, there were calls for the citizenship of Yigal Amir, who assassinated former Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin in 1995, to be removed.

— Melanie Goodfellow, Deadline, 17 Sep. 2026
The program tonight will include a tribute to the late republican activist Charlie Kirk, who was assassinated one year ago, and an observance of the 25th anniversary of the September 11th attacks, which is Friday.

— Tamara Keith, NPR, 10 Sep. 2026

Definition of assassinated

Verb

The team has eradicated every invasive casuarina pine, the Australian import whose needles poison the native plants beneath it, along with invasive sea grapes that chew up the dunes.

— Sydney Lake, Fortune, 10 Sep. 2026
Screwworm had been considered eradicated from the US, Mexico and most of Central America decades ago.

— Jen Christensen, CNN Money, 7 Sep. 2026

Definition of eradicated

Verb

In a defense memo, Pattis characterizes Diamantis as a broken and financially ruined former politician and lawyer who at 70 might not survive a long prison sentence.

— Edmund H. Mahony, Hartford Courant, 14 Sep. 2026
What could have easily ruined their experience instead became an unforgettable highlight of the trip.

— Condé Nast, Condé Nast Traveler, 11 Sep. 2026

Definition of ruined

Verb

That was the fate of Jeffrey Dahmer’s former apartment building and the Idaho house where Bryan Kohberger murdered four college students.

— Graham Womack, Sacbee.com, 21 Sep. 2026
In 1892, Andrew Borden and his wife, Abby, were murdered in broad daylight inside their Massachusetts home, just blocks from the town’s busy center.

— Alex Gurley, PEOPLE, 19 Sep. 2026

Definition of murdered

Verb

Sullivan discussed the state’s history of LGBTQ+ people and organizations and how much of that history has been intentionally erased, according to The Alabama Reflector.

— Charlotte Observer, Charlotte Observer, 19 Sep. 2026
Not honoring a family’s home language would mean the welcome and validation that families feel in the program would be erased.

— Chicago Tribune, Chicago Tribune, 18 Sep. 2026

Definition of erased

Verb

The administration demolished the East Wing of the White House and is replacing it with a massive ballroom.

— ABC News, ABC News, 16 Sep. 2026
He’s demolished the East Wing of the White House and is replacing it with a ballroom and plans to build a triumphal arch near Arlington National Cemetery.

— Steven Sloan, Chicago Tribune, 15 Sep. 2026

Definition of demolished

Verb

Meanwhile, Iran’s state TV said a man was executed after being convicted on charges of spying for Israel.

— ABC News, ABC News, 19 Sep. 2026
The following August, six Israeli hostages were executed by Hamas in a tunnel in Rafah, after more than three hundred days in captivity.

— Ruth Margalit, New Yorker, 19 Sep. 2026