different between efface vs destroy

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 Middle English destroyen, from Old French destruire, Vulgar Latin *destrug?, from Classical Latin d?stru?, from d?- (“un-, de-”) + stru? (“I build”). Displaced native shend (“destroy, injure”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /d??st???/
• Rhymes: -??
• Hyphenation: de?stroy

Verb

destroy (third-person singular simple present destroys, present participle destroying, simple past and past participle destroyed)

2. (transitive, intransitive) To damage beyond use or repair.

3. (transitive) To neutralize, undo a property or condition.

4. (transitive) To put down or euthanize.

5. (transitive) To severely disrupt the well-being of (a person); ruin.
   • 2005, Kliatt Young Adult Paperback Book Guide

     Other girls in the foster home are eager to destroy her and get her kicked out of the place. It's a tough situation.

6. (colloquial, transitive, hyperbolic) To defeat soundly.
7. (computing, transitive) To remove data.

8. (US, colloquial, slang) To sing a song poorly.
9. (bodybuilding, slang, antiphrasis) To exhaust duly and thus recreate or build up.

10. (slang, vulgar) To penetrate sexually in an aggressive way.

Synonyms

• annihilate
• break
• demolish
• kill
• ruin
• waste
• See also Thesaurus:destroy

Antonyms

• build
• construct
• create
• make
• raise
• repair

Derived terms

Related terms

Translations

Anagrams

• stroyed