rub out

1. 1.

   remove by or as if by rubbing or erasing

   “Please erase the formula on the blackboard--it is wrong!”

   Synonymserasescore outeffacewipe off

   Broaderdelete

   Narrowerspongescratch out

Questions about rub out

What does rub out mean?

rub out means "remove by or as if by rubbing or erasing".

What is another word for rub out?

Close synonyms include erase, score out, efface, wipe off. Each sense on this page lists its own synonyms, because a word with several meanings rarely has one substitute that works for all of them.

Is rub out a common word?

rub out is banded "Uncommon" — turns up in careful writing rather than conversation. The band comes from how often the word appears in a large corpus of everyday English, not from an editor's impression.