ikˈspənj, ek- transitive verb
( -ed/-ing/-s )
Etymology: Latin expungere to mark for deletion by dots placed above or below, from ex- ex- (I) + pungere to prick — more at pungent
1.
a. : to strike out, obliterate, or mark for deletion (as a word, line, or sentence)
b. : to obliterate (a material record or trace) by any means
expunge the sound of a voice from a tape recording
expunge a man's fingerprints
c. : drop , exclude , discard , omit
that condemnation stood for priests to read … until the seventeenth century, when it was silently expunged — G.G.Coulton
d. : to cause (something intangible) to be effaced
could not expunge those bitter memories from his mind
the most primitive ways of thinking may not yet be wholly expunged — William James
2.
a. : to cause the physical destruction of : annihilate
the nuclear explosives that can expunge in a fraction of a second … the units of … civilization — Saturday Review
the race of man expunging itself by its own hand — Sara H. Hay
b. : to treat or cause to be regarded as nonexistent : consign to oblivion : destroy in any manner : eradicate
released her with a warning and … considered the episode expunged — Josephine Johnson
expunge the power of labor in politics — Bruce Bliven b. 1889
official efforts to expunge the popular hero from history
Synonyms: see erase