Using the word obliterate, however, is the kind of language that we have seen George Bush use over the last seven years and it's precisely that kind of provocative language that Senator Clinton criticized others for. ROBERTS: And in our conversation earlier today with Barack Obama, he criticized Hillary Clinton's use of the word obliterate when referring to Iran. Using the word obliterate however, is the kind of language that we have seen George Bush use over the last seven years and it's precisely that kind of provocative language that Senator Clinton criticized others for. McCain camp accuses Obama of making age an issue what she meant was we would deal with Iran harshly. When CNN's Rick Sanchez had a panel discussion on Hillary's ' obliterate Iran' comment, he rhetorically asked words to the effect 'well, 'obliterate' is just a word. John Eskow: The Obliterator: Hillary Channels Her Inner Doctor Strangelove Merriam-Webster tells us that the root of ' obliterate' comes from the Latin word 'littera', for 'letter,' so that obliterate really means to destroy the alphabet - to erase not only every word but the very capacity to create words.

verb do away with completely, without leaving a trace.verb make undecipherable or imperceptible by obscuring or concealing.verb remove completely from recognition or memory.verb mark for deletion, rub off, or erase.verb To remove completely, leaving no trace to wipe out to destroy.įrom WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University.adjective (Zoöl.) Scarcely distinct - applied to the markings of insects.įrom Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.transitive verb To wear out to remove or destroy utterly by any means to render imperceptible.transitive verb To erase or blot out to efface to render undecipherable, as a writing.(see efface), rub out, rub off, wipe out, remove.įrom the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English. To blot or render undecipherable blot out erase efface remove all traces of.In entomology, almost effaced obsolete or very indistinct, as the surface-markings of an insect.transitive verb Medicine To remove completely (a body organ or part), as by surgery, disease, or radiation.

transitive verb To render invisible or unreadable, as by erasing or marking over.

transitive verb To remove or destroy completely so as to leave no trace.

From The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

Synonym for obliteration