obliterate
/əˈblɪtəɹeɪt/
"obliterate" is a 10-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“obliterate” is a moderately-common English word, ranked #37,601 in English word frequency and used as a verb.
- #37,601
- frequency rank, English
- 10
- letters
- 14
- tracked misspellings
- 1
- confusable pair
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - To destroy (someone or something) completely, leaving no trace; to annihilate, to wipe out.
Visual similarity to commonly confused words
How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).
Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | obliterate |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Verb |
| IPA | /əˈblɪtəɹeɪt/ |
| Letters | 10 |
| Frequency rank | #37,601 |
| Misspellings tracked | 14 |
| Confusable pairs | 1 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “obliterate” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for obliterate is 10 letters long, classified as a verb, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /əˈblɪtəɹeɪt/. Corpus data places it at rank #37,601 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. Wiktionary records 7 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our generated misspelling index lists 14 likely wrong-spelling variants for obliterate, with forms such as "boliterate", "obbliterate", and "obilterate". Every one of these variants traces to a single-character edit -- an added or dropped letter, a swapped consonant, or a vowel swap -- the kind of slip a spell-checker is built to catch. It also participates in 1 confusable-pair relationship, "obliterated", where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.
Etymologically, the entry records: PIE word *h₁epi (start of 17th century) From earlier obliterat, learned borrowing from Latin obliterātus, oblitterātus (“having been blotted out, effaced, erased; having been forgotten”) (see -ate (verb-forming suffix, of participial origin)). Obliterātus … The correct English form is obliterate, spelled O-B-L-I-T-E-R-A-T-E.
Definition
- 1To destroy (someone or something) completely, leaving no trace; to annihilate, to wipe out.
- 2To hide (something) by covering it; to conceal, to obscure.
- 3To make (a drawing, text which is printed or written, etc.) indecipherable, either by erasing or obscuring it; to blot out, to efface, to delete.
- 4To impair the function and/or structure of (a body cavity, vessel, etc.) by ablating or occluding it (in the latter case, chiefly by filling it with tissue).
- 5To cancel (a postage stamp) with a postmark so it cannot be reused.
- 6To be destroyed completely, leaving no trace.
- 7Of a body cavity, vessel, etc.: to close up or fill with tissue; of perfusion or a pulse: to cease owing to obstruction.
Etymology
PIE word *h₁epi (start of 17th century) From earlier obliterat, learned borrowing from Latin obliterātus, oblitterātus (“having been blotted out, effaced, erased; having been forgotten”) (see -ate (verb-forming suffix, of participial origin)). Obliterātus and oblitterātus are respectively the perfect passive participles of obliterō and oblitterō (“to blot out, efface, erase, obliterate; to cause to be forgotten”), probably either: * from ob- (prefix meaning ‘against; towards’) + littera (“letter of the alphabet; (metonymically) handwriting”) (further etymology unknown); or * from oblītus (“disregarded, neglected; forgotten”), influenced by littera. Oblītus is the perfect passive participle of oblinō (“to daub over, besmear”), from ob- + possibly ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *h₁lengʷʰ- (“not heavy, light; brief; swift”). Cognates * Catalan obliterar (“to erase; to cancel (a stamp); to close up or fill (a body cavity, vessel, etc.)”) * Middle French oblitérer (modern French oblitérer (“to cause (memories) to fade; to block, obstruct; to cancel (a stamp, ticket, etc.) so it cannot be reused”)) * Portuguese obliterar (“to destroy completely; to erase”) * Spanish obliterar (“to destroy completely; to erase”)
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: boliterate,obbliterate,obilterate,oblietrate,oblitearte,obliteraet,obliteratte,obliterrate,oblitertae,oblitreate,oblitterate,oblliterate,obltierate,olbiterate
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of obliterate - counted as single-character edits (an insertion, a deletion, or a substituted letter). The larger the bar, the easier the typo is to spot; one-edit slips are the ones that sneak past readers.
Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 English corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do you spell "obliterate"?
What does "obliterate" mean?
What words are commonly confused with "obliterate"?
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Using “obliterate”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is O-B-L-I-T-E-R-A-T-E - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /əˈblɪtəɹeɪt/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “obliterated” - see the side-by-side comparison. obliterate vs obliterated
- Browse more English words and confusable pairs in the same reference. English words
Data Source
Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Word ordering uses an open word-frequency list; misspelling variants are generated by edit-distance from the correct headword.