Definition

1. Verb:
   • To remove or erase something completely, especially from a document, record, or memory, as if by wiping it out or drawing a line through it. It implies a deliberate and thorough act of elimination.

Examples of Usage

• Verb:
  • The judge ordered the false testimony to be expunged from the court records.
  • He tried to expunge all memories of the embarrassing incident from his mind.
  • The editor decided to expunge the controversial paragraph from the published article.

Advanced Usage

• "to expunge something from something": This is the most common grammatical structure, indicating what is removed and from where.
  • The committee voted to expunge the inaccurate data from the official report.
• Used in formal, legal, or official contexts to denote the authorized removal of information.

Variants and Related Words

• Expunction (noun): The act or process of expunging.
  • The expunction of the conviction allowed him to apply for the job.

Synonyms

• Erase: To remove written or recorded material.
• Delete: To remove, especially from a written or electronic text.
• Obliterate: To remove all traces of; to destroy completely.
• Efface: To rub out or wipe out; to make indistinct.

Antonyms

• Insert: To put or set into something.
• Record: To set down in writing or other permanent form for later reference.
• Preserve: To keep safe from injury, harm, or destruction.

Related Phrases

• Expunge a record: A common legal phrase meaning to have an official record (like a criminal record) sealed or destroyed.
  • After completing the rehabilitation program, she was eligible to have her juvenile record expunged.

Verb

1. remove by erasing or crossing out or as if by drawing a line
   • Please strike this remark from the record
   • scratch that remark