Link Centre Dictionary

delete

de·lete

UK/dɪˈliːt/ US/diˈliːt/ fairly common slang

verb

1.

remove or make invisible

  • “Please delete my name from your list”
Synonyms
2.
3.

cut or eliminate

  • “she edited the juiciest scenes”
Synonyms

Origin

From Latin dēlētus, past participle of dēlēre (“destroy, blot out, efface”), from dēlēvī, originally perf. tense of dēlinere (“to daub, erase by smudging”), from dē- (“from, away”) + linere (“to smear, wipe”). Original sense first appears c. 1495. In common use for ordering the absence of features of products (such as automobiles) in the 1960s. The computing sense, including the noun form, first appears c. 1977 in Software: Practice & Experience. Not related to deleterious. Doublet of delible and deleble.

Phrases

  • dirty delete
  • expletive deleted
  • speedy delete

Related words

Word family

Broader terms

Narrower terms

WordNet 2.1 (Princeton University). Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. WordNet 2.1 Copyright Princeton University. All rights reserved. Wiktionary content is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike Licence.