These words refer to the removal of markings from a surface, possibly so that they can be replaced by other markings. Erase is the least formal and most general of these, referring to symbols removed by any wiping or rubbing action: asking a child to erase the work from the blackboard; erasing the pencilled guidelines after the lettering had been inked in. eradicate is the most formal of these words. Aside from its etymological reference to rooting out, it applies here to the erasing of ink markings by a specially prepared chemical: revisions made in washable ink so that the editor could eradicate them if he chose. Eradicate is widely used in the general sense of completely getting rid of: all fingerprints and all signs of a struggle had been eradicated .

Cancel and delete are less clear than the foregoing about the means used to cause the removal of markings. Cancel once pointed specifically to the crossing out of something: cancelling every entry that was out of date. By extension, it may mean to rescind or terminate: Cancel my subscription. Cancel also refers to overmarkings on postage stamps or to action that reduces the effectiveness of something: erratic behaviour that cancelled out the good impression he had made previously. Delete still chiefly refers to the editing of a text by removing unwanted expressions; this may be done by crossing out, erasing , eradicating or covering the thing to be deleted : using red ink to delete objectionable phrases from the manuscript.

Efface is also vague about the means of removal, but it may often suggest that markings have become partially or wholly indistinct, not by design but by time and attrition: weathering that had effaced by use. Expunge and obliterate refer to forceful and total removal, whether by design or not. Expunge compares to the less formal delete , but may suggest the total removal of a larger body of material by whatever means: expunging from the diaries all reference to people still living, and deleting a few remarks about figures out of the recent past. In any case, expunge suggests an uncompromising removal and the total disappearance of such material. Obliterate suggests even more force than expunge , even to the possible extent of damaging the surface or material on which the markings appear. Otherwise, the word compares with efface in sometimes suggesting indistinctness that results, not by design, but from the action of natural forces: fire damage that had obliterated many passages in the manuscript; erosion that had nearly obliterated all trace of the earliest Minoan settlements.