MEANING
1. To erase, remove, or eliminate something completely, especially from a record or surface.
2. To obliterate a mark, trace, or written item from a surface or text.
Use it for
Use for decisive removal from a record or memory.Show a person trying to erase a mark, accusation, or past event.
Words that belong together
- expunge a record
- expunge a name
- expunge from memory
- expunge a notation
- expunge a line
- expunge a trace
On the page
She asked the archive to expunge the false accusation from her file.
The clerk expunged the mistaken figure with a single stroke.
Nearby words
Opposite meanings
Word forms
- Base
- expunge
- Past tense
- expunged
- Past participle
- expunged
- Present participle
- expunging
Full tense & aspect guide
- Present
- expunge
- Present continuous
- am/is/are expunging
- Present perfect
- have/has expunged
- Present perfect continuous
- have/has been expunging
- Past
- expunged
- Past continuous
- was/were expunging
- Past perfect
- had expunged
- Past perfect continuous
- had been expunging
- Future
- will expunge
- Future continuous
- will be expunging
- Future perfect
- will have expunged
- Future perfect continuous
- will have been expunging
Choose the auxiliary that agrees with your subject. These are constructions of one word, not separate entries.
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Usage notes
More forceful than edit or remove; it suggests deliberate, thorough elimination. Sense 2: This sense is literal or textual; the record sense often carries legal or reputational weight.
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