expunge

verb

ex·​punge ik-ˈspənj 

expunged; expunging

transitive verb

1

: to strike out, obliterate, or mark for deletion

2

: to efface completely : destroy

3

: to eliminate from one's consciousness

expunge a memory

expunger noun

Did you know?

In medieval and Renaissance manuscripts, a series of dots was used to mark mistakes or to label material that should be deleted from a text, and those deletion dots can help you remember the history of expunge. They were known as puncta delentia. The puncta part of the name derives from the Latin verb pungere, which can be translated as "to prick or sting" (and you can imagine that a scribe may have felt stung when their mistakes were so punctuated in a manuscript). Pungere is also an ancestor of expunge, as well as a parent of other dotted, pointed, or stinging terms such as punctuate, compunction, poignant, puncture, and pungent.

Synonyms

• abolish
• annihilate
• black out
• blot out
• cancel
• clean (up)
• efface
• eradicate
• erase
• exterminate
• extirpate
• liquidate
• obliterate
• root (out)
• rub out
• snuff (out)
• stamp (out)
• sweep (away)
• wipe out

Examples of expunge in a Sentence

time and the weather have expunged any evidence that a thriving community once existed here

Recent Examples on the Web

Zoom in: Community organizations, service providers and employers will be on hand to assist attendees with issues like restoring their civil rights, finding housing and jobs, dealing with outstanding warrants, expunging marijuana convictions and dealing with other criminal record issues. —Jeremy Duda, Axios, 1 Nov. 2024

The bill does not include provisions to expunge past cannabis convictions or to allow the home cultivation of marijuana, which activists feared would lead the Supreme Court to block the measure based on state laws that limit ballot initiatives to a single subject. —A.j. Herrington, Forbes, 29 Oct. 2024

Love boasts no inherent magic by which these differences may be neatly expunged; each one must be resolved, or left open, in the total concretion of experience. —Andrea Long Chu, Vulture, 20 Sep. 2024

Upon completion, the musician's record will be expunged, Penn Live reported. —Jade Gomez, People.com, 14 Oct. 2024

Word History

Etymology

Latin expungere to mark for deletion by dots, from ex- + pungere to prick — more at pungent

First Known Use

1602, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Podcast

Get Word of the Day delivered to your inbox!

Kids Definition

expunge

verb

ex·​punge ik-ˈspənj 

expunged; expunging

: to blot or rub out : erase

expunger noun

Legal Definition

expunge

transitive verb

ex·​punge ik-ˈspənj 

expunged; expunging

: to cancel out or destroy completely

expunge the court records of an acquitted defendant

expungement noun