obliteration

C2 Topic:Abstract Ideas

US /əˌblɪtɝˈeɪʃən/ See IPA manual

Freq #64571

Meanings

1

noun
The total destruction of something.

This illustration depicts exoplanet Kepler-1658b (left), doomed to eventual obliteration by its aging host star.
2

noun
The concealing or covering of something.

Winter, in coming to the country hereabout, advanced in well-marked stages, wherein might have been successively observed the retreat of the snakes, the transformation of the ferns, the filling of the pools, a rising of fogs, the embrowning by frost, the collapse of the fungi, and an obliteration by snow.
3

noun
The cancellation, erasure or deletion of something.

Whitman did censor himself often enough, changing pronouns in some passages, excising others, learning, in short, the "strategies of concealment" forced on him by the nineteenth century. None of these obliterations, however, can excuse the endeavors of literary critics, who have tried to deny the importance of "sexuality" in the poetry by focusing on its "mystical" or its "universal" aspects.
4

noun
destruction by annihilating something

Thesaurus

Synonyms

4 noun · destruction by annihilating... annihilation

Word family

Derived forms abliterationangioobliterationdisobliterationobliterationismvasoobliteration

Related forms obliterateobliviationoblivion

Etymology

From obliterate + -ion.

Topics

Abstract Ideas Word Formation & Derivatives Register & Style

External links

# obliteration

**Type:** Word
**Level:** C2
**Part of speech:** noun
**IPA (US):** /əˌblɪtɝˈeɪʃən/
**Frequency rank:** 64571

## Meanings
1. The total destruction of something.
2. The concealing or covering of something.
3. The cancellation, erasure or deletion of something.
4. destruction by annihilating something

## Examples
- This illustration depicts exoplanet Kepler-1658b (left), doomed to eventual obliteration by its aging host star.
- Winter, in coming to the country hereabout, advanced in well-marked stages, wherein might have been successively observed the retreat of the snakes, the transformation of the ferns, the filling of the pools, a rising of fogs, the embrowning by frost, the collapse of the fungi, and an obliteration by snow.
- Whitman did censor himself often enough, changing pronouns in some passages, excising others, learning, in short, the "strategies of concealment" forced on him by the nineteenth century. None of these obliterations, however, can excuse the endeavors of literary critics, who have tried to deny the importance of "sexuality" in the poetry by focusing on its "mystical" or its "universal" aspects.

## Derived Forms
- abliteration
- angioobliteration
- disobliteration
- obliterationism
- vasoobliteration

## Related Forms
- obliterate
- obliviation
- oblivion

## Etymology
From obliterate + -ion.

## Topics
- Abstract Ideas
- Word Formation & Derivatives
- Register & Style

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