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delete

verb
de·​lete | \ di-ˈlēt How to pronounce delete (audio) , dē-\
deleted; deleting

Definition of delete

transitive verb

: to eliminate especially by blotting out, cutting out, or erasing delete a passage in a manuscript delete a computer file The e-mail was accidentally deleted.
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Other Words from delete

deletable \ di-​ˈlē-​tə-​bəl How to pronounce deletable (audio) , dē-​ \ adjective
an easily deletable photo

Examples of delete in a Sentence

Delete this name from the list. When the movie was shown on TV all the swearwords had been deleted.

Recent Examples on the Web

 Records detailing Officer Jesse Jansma's 10-day suspension in 2016 for shooting a man in the leg shouldn't have been deleted for five years. — Justin Price, azcentral, "Phoenix police routinely 'purges' officer discipline records, keeps misconduct secret," 23 Aug. 2019 Brown ultimately deleted his Twitter account altogether and turned off the commenting feature on all of his Instagram posts. — Laura Hanrahan, Woman's Day, "'Queer Eye' Star Karamo Brown Deleted His Twitter After Defending 'DWTS' Castmate Sean Spicer," 23 Aug. 2019 But that didn't stop the meme's many famous posters, including Debra Messing, Rob Lowe, Rita Wilson, Usher, Taraji Henson, Shane Smith, and others, some of whom have since deleted it. — Louise Matsakis, WIRED, "An Old Instagram Hoax Fools a Bunch of Celebrities," 21 Aug. 2019 Amazon also has humans reviewing Alexa recordings, which are stored indefinitely unless customers delete them. — Jon Brodkin, Ars Technica, "Apple and Google temporarily stop listening to Siri and OK Google queries," 2 Aug. 2019 According to authorities, the footage is deleted every five days unless downloaded in connection with a case. — San Diego Union-Tribune, "Interactive map: See where San Diego police used streetlamp cameras and the crimes they investigated," 15 Aug. 2019 Meyer set his phone to delete messages older than one year. — Michael Mccann, SI.com, "Five Key Takeaways From Ohio State's Records Release Involving Urban Meyer, Zach Smith," 2 Aug. 2019 Davis deleted the photo soon after it was taken when the woman told him to do so. — Lawrence Andrea, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, "Ex-Badgers player Quintez Cephus found not guilty of two counts of sexual assault," 2 Aug. 2019 The media giant had deleted a video of a doctor warning about the dangers of giving children puberty blockers. — Krista Kafer, The Denver Post, "Kafer: Trolling of Shanann Watts’ family exposes the other dark web," 25 July 2019

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'delete.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

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First Known Use of delete

circa 1605, in the meaning defined above

History and Etymology for delete

Latin deletus, past participle of delēre to wipe out, destroy

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More Definitions for delete

delete

verb
How to pronounce delete (audio)

English Language Learners Definition of delete

: to remove (something, such as words, pictures, or computer files) from a document, recording, computer, etc.

See the full definition for delete in the English Language Learners Dictionary

delete

verb
de·​lete | \ di-ˈlēt How to pronounce delete (audio) \
deleted; deleting

Kids Definition of delete

: to take out especially by erasing, crossing out, or cutting delete a sentence delete a computer file

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