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.
Examples of expunge in a Sentence
Andrew Lapin, Sun Sentinel, 19 Feb. 2025
This was another lengthy discussion for my classes, who were confused and amazed at the prospect of one person having the authority to unilaterally prevent someone from being charged for a crime, or expunging the records of those close to them solely for political purposes.
—Samuel Chambers, Orlando Sentinel, 29 Jan. 2025
Some of those tools might be woefully out of date, because pathogens have evolved; antibiotic resistance could also make certain bacterial infections more difficult to expunge than in decades prior.
—Katherine J. Wu, The Atlantic, 28 Jan. 2025
While they will be released from prison, their criminal records will remain intact, unlike a pardon, which expunges a criminal record and restores voting and other rights to the person pardoned.
—Michael Wilner, Miami Herald, 21 Jan. 2025
See All Example Sentences for expunge
Cite this Entry
“Expunge.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/expunge. Accessed 19 Mar. 2025.
Copy CitationKids Definition
Legal Definition
expunge
transitive verb
Share