EFFACING Synonyms: 90 Similar and Opposite Words

effacing

verb

present participle of efface

as in erasing

to destroy all traces of when the supply ship finally arrived, it discovered that virtually all evidence of the colony at Roanoke had been effaced

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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 effacing By October of 1945, The Nation’s embrace of world government as a practical solution for the problem of potentially life-effacing weapons had somewhat abated. — Richard Kreitner, Washington Post, 29 Sep. 2026 Their struggle has upturned the tabletop candle that illuminates the scene and any moment will surely extinguish it, effacing the giddy pattern formed by the writhing bodies and glowing, veiny bladder skin. — Julian Bell, The New York Review of Books, 25 Apr. 2026 The leaps in time have the eerie effect of effacing time—the layered succession of images implying their simultaneity in Lidia’s mind. — Richard Brody, New Yorker, 13 Jan. 2026

Recent Examples of Synonyms for effacing

Verb

Cincinnati kept pouring it on after erasing the 13-0 deficit.

— ABC News, ABC News, 25 Oct. 2026
In the bottom of the sixth, Sal Frelick led off the inning with a lefty-on-lefty solo homer off Ian Seymour in a nine-pitch at-bat, completely erasing the deficit.

— Ryan Morik OutKick, FOXNews.com, 25 Oct. 2026

Definition of erasing

Verb

The Beijing propaganda machine has been busy eradicating the truth about the Tiananmen Square Massacre for nearly forty years.

— Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 21 Oct. 2026
But somehow, in the midst of all this frat-boy revelry, Ilya is able to outline his vision for the future, one in which AI will have solved numerous human problems, including eradicating not only cancer but also loneliness and unhappiness.

— Stephanie Zacharek, Time, 7 Oct. 2026

Definition of eradicating

Verb

One crab can eat more than 40 juvenile soft-shell clams in a day, while also destroying seagrass habitats.

— Victoria Malloy, Time, 21 Oct. 2026
And then a seven-hour-long GRB came along—acting like a Death Star whose planet-destroying beam refused to switch off—that defied all explanation.

— Robin George Andrews, Scientific American, 20 Oct. 2026

Definition of destroying

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effaces

effacing

effect

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“Effacing.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/effacing. Accessed 27 Oct. 2026.

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Synonyms of effacing

verb

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