rubbed out

past tense of rub out
1
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

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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 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 current San Geronimo Chapel was built in 1850 to replace a church destroyed in the Mexican American War.
    Alia Beard Rau, USA Today, 10 June 2026
  • The video and the SCE data offer proof that the 100-year-old line, which hadn’t been used since the early 1970s, became re-electrified and sparked the fire that killed 19 people and destroyed thousands of homes in Altadena and surrounding areas, attorneys say.
    Tony Saavedra, Daily News, 10 June 2026
Verb
  • In 1979, Pamela’s father, Lord Louis Mountbatten, was assassinated by the IRA when a bomb exploded aboard his fishing boat.
    Rachel Burchfield, InStyle, 5 June 2026
  • Jordan was later elected to the Missouri House of Representatives before being assassinated and killed outside the Green Duck in 1970.
    J.M. Banks June 1, Kansas City Star, 1 June 2026
Verb
  • Key Background The United States eradicated screwworm in the 1960s through a massive sterile fly program, but outbreaks in Mexico and Central America have raised concerns about the parasite moving north again.
    Mary Whitfill Roeloffs, Forbes.com, 11 June 2026
  • This sequence of events used to occur regularly in the US and Central America; screwworm was endemic here but was eradicated after a concerted, decades-long campaign to annihilate its populations.
    Beth Mole, ArsTechnica, 9 June 2026
Verb
  • That's when the PAW Patrol has to step in to stop Humdinger before the island is ruined!
    Sari Hitchins, Parents, 10 June 2026
  • But Wembanyama and the Spurs ended the streak and ruined the Knicks’ first home NBA Finals game since 1999.
    Brian Mahoney, Chicago Tribune, 9 June 2026
Verb
  • If someone was caught, and murdered, scraps of their body were circulated as souvenirs and passed down through generations of white families as heirlooms.
    Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 8 June 2026
  • Austrians believe he was murdered for refusing to join the German team.
    Blair Kerkhoff, Kansas City Star, 8 June 2026
Verb
  • These Knicks, who erased a 22-point deficit in the fourth quarter against Cleveland in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference finals, just don’t quit.
    Tim Reynolds, Los Angeles Times, 11 June 2026
  • The matchup emerged after Raman erased a roughly 40,000-vote election night deficit against Pratt and overtook him in subsequent ballot count updates.
    Teresa Liu, Daily News, 11 June 2026
Verb
  • But the building was demolished within a day of the fire, making certainty impossible.
    Max Kutner, HollywoodReporter, 7 June 2026
  • The set design is centered around the flooded, burned down, and demolished house that appears in the album visuals and is somehow still standing despite it all.
    Larisha Paul, Rolling Stone, 7 June 2026
Verb
  • On Friday, law enforcement executed a search warrant at Tiffany's home.
    Tom Ignudo, CBS News, 10 June 2026
  • Lee was set to become the ninth person executed with nitrogen before Marks' order.
    Landon Mion, FOXNews.com, 10 June 2026

Cite this Entry

“Rubbed out.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/rubbed%20out. Accessed 13 Jun. 2026.

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