Literary notes about obliterate (AI summary)
The term "obliterate" is employed in literature with a remarkable versatility, often conveying the absolute erasure of memories, identities, or physical traces. At times, it is used to highlight the unstoppable force of time or circumstance that gradually fades even the most indelible impressions, as when time is said to wash away a deep mental imprint ([1]) or when an event's memory is so potent that its erasure takes months ([2]). In other contexts, the word takes on a more literal dimension, describing the physical act of erasing marks or remnants, whether in art or in nature ([3], [4]). Additionally, it can serve as a potent metaphor for transformation or the obliteration of the past, underscoring themes of loss and renewal in a character’s identity or the historical record ([5], [6], [7]).
- The face of M—— M—— had made too deep an impression on me; nothing could possibly obliterate it except the all-powerful influence of time.
— from The Memoirs of Jacques Casanova de Seingalt, 1725-1798. Complete by Giacomo Casanova - The lesson is likely to be lasting, for it will take many months to obliterate the memory of the remarks and circumstances that impressed it.
— from The Entire Project Gutenberg Works of Mark Twain by Mark Twain - This has often been done in daylight when the only risks run are those of blizzards which may spring up suddenly and obliterate tracks.
— from The Worst Journey in the World Antarctic 1910-1913 by Apsley Cherry-Garrard - Nor, again, if there be a strong wind blowing, which will whirl and drift the snow about and obliterate the tracks.
— from The Sportsman: On Hunting, a Sportsman's Manual, Commonly Called Cynegeticus by Xenophon - Hartmut Rojanow already wore the laurel wreath, and that was enough, surely, to obliterate the past.
— from The Northern Light by E. Werner - She fancied that Raymond would already be free, and that her tender attentions would come to entirely obliterate even the memory of his mischance.
— from The Last Man by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley - Yet the favor of the prince, and the merit of his favorite, could not obliterate the guilt of his apostasy.
— from The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire by Edward Gibbon
