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

Both the rocket and the camera were destroyed after crashing into the Earth at a speed of about 340 miles per hour.

— Robert Z. Pearlman, Space.com, 24 Oct. 2026
Cities outside Paris have been hit hard by the unrest, including Limoges where a fire nearly destroyed the 19th-century city hall.

— Arkansas Online, Arkansas Online, 23 Oct. 2026

Definition of destroyed

Verb

In Cucuta, next to the border with Venezuela, authorities are investigating the murder of a former deputy mayor, who was assassinated on Monday night while on his way home.

— ABC News, ABC News, 27 Oct. 2026
In Cucuta, next to the border with Venezuela, authorities are investigating the murder of a former deputy mayor, who was assassinated Monday night on his way home.

— Manuel Rueda, Los Angeles Times, 27 Oct. 2026

Definition of assassinated

Verb

The campaign that originally eradicated screwworm relied on what’s known as the sterile insect technique.

— Robert Kelly, Fortune, 22 Oct. 2026
Stoett argues that if a market is used to encourage removal, the commercial activity should exist because the species needs to be reduced, contained, or eradicated—not because the goal is to establish a sustainable fishery for that species.

— Victoria Malloy, Time, 21 Oct. 2026

Definition of eradicated

Verb

Food waste ruined amid the blaze took more than two months to clean up as the operation missed several deadlines set by the city, leading to unbearable odors in the area and rodent infestations.

— Austin Turner, CBS News, 28 Oct. 2026
Others have used it to remove oily stains from their toddlers like crayon marks on carpet, and one reviewer says it’s saved many of their clothes from being ruined in a household with unavoidable messes from both kids and pets.

— Caley Sturgill, Southern Living, 25 Oct. 2026

Definition of ruined

Verb

During this same time his father had vanished behind the Bamboo Curtain and was almost certainly persecuted, possibly even murdered, by the same Communists that Hoover claimed to be fighting.

— Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 26 Oct. 2026
New or expecting mothers are more likely to be murdered than to die from obstetric causes.

— Michele Decker, Washington Post, 26 Oct. 2026

Definition of murdered

Verb

A couple years later, on the verge of being demolished and replaced by several new McMansions, fund manager and seasonal Watch Hill resident Charles Royce stepped in to salvage its history.

— Condé Nast, Condé Nast Traveler, 30 Oct. 2026
Trump crammed the Oval Office with gold flourishes, demolished the East Wing to build a sprawling ballroom and converted the Rose Garden into a patio space reminiscent of his Mar-a-Lago estate.

— ABC News, ABC News, 28 Oct. 2026

Definition of demolished

Verb

Smartly, Fischer and Wilson build out this community with its own strange customs, big and small, each executed without explanation, question or complaint.

— Amy Nicholson, Los Angeles Times, 22 Oct. 2026
The researchers worked with RISC-V assembly code, which represents instructions executed by a processor.

— Aamir Khollam, Interesting Engineering, 22 Oct. 2026