Obliterative
adj ·Rare ·Advanced level
Definitions
- 1 Tending or serving to obliterate.
"The obliterative stage is a natural process of erasing old facts, which frees the mind for new things."
- 2 Tending or serving to hide or deny.
"This is undoubtedly true as a statement of the coloration, but whether this coloration is in fact obliterative needs further investigation. Of course if it is obliterative, then its use is to conceal the mammals."
- 3 Causing a passageway to become completely closed off.
"In the case of true obliterative appendicitis, however, the opposed surfaces of the lumen have become firmly united to each other, and the obliterating band is absolutely impervious."
Example
More examples"The obliterative stage is a natural process of erasing old facts, which frees the mind for new things."
Etymology
From obliterate + -ive.
Related phrases
More for "obliterative"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.