different between efface vs abolish

English

Etymology

From Middle French effacer (“erase”), from Old French esfacier (“remove the face”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /??fe?s/, /??fe?s/
• Rhymes: -e?s

Verb

efface (third-person singular simple present effaces, present participle effacing, simple past and past participle effaced)

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

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

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

Derived terms

Translations

See also

• deface

Anagrams

• Caffee

French

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /e.fas/

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 (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).

English

Etymology

From late Middle English abolisshen, from Middle French abolir, aboliss- (extended stem), from Latin abol?re (“to retard, check the growth of, (and by extension) destroy, abolish”), inchoative abol?scere (“to wither, vanish, (Classical) cease”), probably from ab (“from, away from”) + *ol?re (“to increase, grow”) which is found only in compound.

Pronunciation

• (UK) enPR: ?-b?l'?sh IPA^(key): /??b?l??/
• (US) IPA^(key): /??b?l.??/, /??b?l.??/

Verb

abolish (third-person singular simple present abolishes, present participle abolishing, simple past and past participle abolished or (obsolete) abolisht)

1. To end a law, system, institution, custom or practice. [First attested from around 1350 to 1470.]
2. (archaic) To put an end to or destroy, as a physical object; to wipe out. [First attested from around 1350 to 1470.]

Conjugation

Synonyms

• (to end a law, system, institution, custom or practice): abrogate, annul, cancel, dissolve, nullify, repeal, revoke

Antonyms

• (to end a law, system, institution, custom or practice): establish, found

Derived terms

Related terms

Translations

References