Did you know?
In medieval and Renaissance manuscripts, a series of dots was used to mark mistakes or to label material that should be deleted from a text, and those deletion dots can help you remember the history of expunge. They were known as puncta delentia. The puncta part of the name derives from the Latin verb pungere, which can be translated as "to prick or sting" (and you can imagine that a scribe may have felt stung when their mistakes were so punctuated in a manuscript). Pungere is also an ancestor of expunge, as well as a parent of other dotted, pointed, or stinging terms such as punctuate, compunction, poignant, puncture, and pungent.
Synonyms
Examples of expunge in a Sentence
Michael R. Wickline, arkansasonline.com, 3 Feb. 2025
She was sentenced to indefinite probation until 2021, nearly 67 years after her 1955 arrest, a Montgomery Juvenile Court judge expunged her record.
—Saleen Martin, USA TODAY, 1 Feb. 2025
Now, the putative deep state will be expunged, along with the expertise and procedures that make effective administration possible.
—Russell Muirhead, Foreign Affairs, 23 Jan. 2025
Many of those pardoned had already completed short jail sentences: Their criminal convictions will be expunged, and they will be released from any ongoing probation requirements.
—Caelyn Pender, The Mercury News, 21 Jan. 2025
See all Example Sentences for expunge 
Dictionary Entries Near expunge
Cite this Entry
“Expunge.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/expunge. Accessed 8 Feb. 2025.
Copy CitationKids Definition
Legal Definition
expunge
transitive verb
Share