efface

See also: effacé

English

Etymology

From (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Middle French effacer (“erase”), from (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Old French esfacier (“remove the face”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /əˈfeɪs/, /ɪˈfeɪs/
• Rhymes: -eɪs

Verb

1. (transitive) To erase (as anything impressed or inscribed upon a surface); to render illegible or indiscernible.

   Do not efface what I've written on the chalkboard.

   • 1825, Walter Scott, The Talisman, A.L. Burt Company (1832?), 15:

     An outline of the same device might be traced on his shield, though many a blow had almost effaced the painting.

2. (transitive) To cause to disappear as if by rubbing out or striking out.

   Some people like to efface their own memories with alcohol.

3. (reflexive) To make oneself inobtrusive as if due to modesty or diffidence.

   Many people seem shy, but they really just efface for meekness.

4. (medicine) Of the cervix during pregnancy, to thin and stretch in preparation for labor.

   Some females efface 75% by the 39th week of pregnancy.

Derived terms

• effaceable
• effacement
• effacer

• ineffaceable
• self-effacing

Translations

to erase

• Bulgarian: заличавам (bg) (zaličavam), премахвам (bg) (premahvam)
• French: effacer (fr)
• Georgian: წაშლა (c̣ašla)
• Ido: efacar (io)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Japanese: 消去する (ja) (shōkyo suru)
• Latin: oblitterō
• Romanian: a șterge
• Spanish: borrar (es)
• Tagalog: bura

cause to disappear as if by rubbing out

• Bulgarian: изтривам (bg) (iztrivam), зачерквам (bg) (začerkvam)
• French: effacer (fr)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Japanese: 拭い去る (nuguisaru)

make oneself inobtrusive

• Dutch: zich wegcijferen
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• French: s’effacer (fr)

See also

• deface

Anagrams

• Caffee

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French

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /e.fas/

• Audio:

  (file)

Noun

efface f (plural effaces)

1. (Quebec) eraser

Verb

efface

1. first-person singular present indicative of effacer
2. third-person singular present indicative of effacer
3. first-person singular present subjunctive of effacer
4. third-person singular present subjunctive of effacer
5. second-person singular imperative of effacer

Further reading

• “efface”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.