Make Your Point: EXPUNGE

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pronounce EXPUNGE:

eck SPUNGE

connect this word to others:

When you expunge something, you wipe it clean, strike it out, erase it.

Although you might wonder if the words expunge and sponge are related, since you can wipe a board clean with a sponge, the similarity in sound is just a coincidence.

But, expunge does have some close family members. They might sound familiar, because I've mentioned them before: the word expunge is cousins with words like point, puncture, pungent, punctual, and punctuation, all of which have something to do with pointing, poking, or sharpness. They all trace back to the Latin pungere, meaning "to poke, to pierce, to prick, or to bother."

See if you can recall a couple more members of the pungere family:

1. Something that seems to pierce your heart, like a gorgeous song or an emotional movie, is p___nant.

2. That heart-poking, conscience-poking feeling of pain when you do something bad or wrong and then wish you hadn't is called c__punct___.

(To reveal any word with blanks, give it a click.)

definition:

"Expunge" has Latin bits that literally mean "to prick out," or "to pierce out."

To expunge something is to wipe it out completely, as if you're poking it, scratching through it, or erasing it.

grammatical bits:

Part of speech:

Verb, the transitive kind: "They expunged the evidence;" "It's hard to expunge words like 'um' from your speech."

Other forms:

Expunged, expunging; expungement, expunger(s).

how to use it:

When you want to sound formal, serious, and official, as if you're a lawyer or a government worker who's in charge of record-keeping, then rather than saying you're canceling, erasing, removing, or scrubbing things, say you're expunging them.

We often talk about people expunging files, records, and other pieces of information.

And we often talk about expunging things from somewhere: expunging detentions from your school records, expunging infractions from your criminal record, expunging illegal copies of books and movies from the internet.

But you could get more creative, if you like, and surprise your reader by talking about expunging bad memories or intrusive thoughts from your mind, or about expunging bad habits or unreliable friends from your life.

examples:

"[After being charged with drunk driving, Mel Gibson] complied with all the terms of the probation he was given in the case, and his conviction was expunged last year."
— Sandy Cohen and Anthony McCartney, Seattle Times, 30 June 2010

"Just because a relationship is over, though, is no reason to pretend it never existed or to expunge every trace."
— Philip Galanes, New York Times, 21 October 2021

has this page helped you understand "expunge"?

Awesome, I'm glad it helped!

Thanks for letting me know!
If you have any questions about this word, please message me at Liesl@HiloTutor.com.

study it:

Explain the meaning of "expunge without saying "obliterate" or "eradicate."

try it out:

Back in 2020, a writer for the Washington Post complained that "nuance and complexity are being violently expunged from the public sphere," with the result being that "people are shouting slogans and utter garbage, even on the stage of a presidential debate."

First, try explaining what the writer means. What's being expunged here? What's it being expunged from? Next, talk about whether you think the complaint is valid today.

before you review, play:

Try to spend 20 seconds or more on the game below. Don’t skip straight to the review—first, let your working memory empty out.

Our game this month is "Market That Makeup!"

Check out the names given to the shades in a palette, and decide what to call the shade with the missing name. You might channel the vibe established by the other shade names, or just pick the weirdest or most grandiloquent name you can think of. To see the shade's real name—the one that the marketing team picked—scroll all the way down.

Try this one today:

Colour Pop's "Stone Cold Fox" palette includes shades like "Stone Age," "U Rock," "Quarry Days," "Truffles," and "Fascinated."

Invent a name for the shade in the second row, second from the right:

(Source)

review this word:

1. The opposite of EXPUNGE could be

A. PULL or YANK.
B. CLEAN or TIDY UP.
C. RECORD or DOCUMENT.

2. Scientists generally agree that it was probably an asteroid that expunged the dinosaurs _____ the planet.

A. from
B. across
C. all around

a final word:

I hope you're enjoying Make Your Point. It's made with love. I'm Liesl Johnson, a reading and writing tutor on a mission to explore, illuminate, and celebrate words.

From my blog:
On vocabulary...
  36 ways to study words.
  Why we forget words, & how to remember them.
  How to use sophisticated words without being awkward.
On writing...
How to improve any sentence.
How to motivate our kids to write.
How to stop procrastinating and start writing.
How to bulk up your writing when you have to meet a word count.

From my heart: a profound thanks to the generous patrons, donors, and sponsors that make it possible for me to write these emails. If you'd like to be a patron or a donor, please click here. If you'd like to be a sponsor and include your ad in an issue, please contact me at Liesl@HiloTutor.com.

A disclaimer: When I write definitions, I use plain language and stick to the words' common, useful applications. If you're interested in authoritative and multiple definitions of words, I encourage you to check a dictionary. Also, because I'm American, I stick to American English when I share words' meanings, usage, and pronunciations; these elements sometimes vary across world Englishes.

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