effacement

noun

Etymology: Etymology tree Old French esfacier French effacer Proto-Indo-European *-mn̥ Proto-Indo-European *-mn̥tom Proto-Italic *-mentom Latin -mentum Old French -ment Middle French -ment French -ment French effacementbor. English effacement Borrowed from French effacement.

1. The act of expunging, of wiping out; expungement.

   “Among the many very baffling inconsistencies of Shakespeare's life the outstanding mystery is surely this: that of all his prolific work […] not a line of manuscript is known to exist today. Nothing approaching this complete effacement can be paralleled in literary history […]”

2. Withdrawal in order to make oneself inconspicuous; the making of oneself inconspicuous.

   “Native Americans seem to have always placed great value on silence and direct experience, and in indigenous cultures in general, silence denotes respect and self-effacement.”

3. A shortening, or thinning, of the cervix before or during early labour.