Obliterate, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Obliterated; p. pr. & vb. n. Obliterating.]
Etymology: [L. obliteratus, p.p. of obliterare to obliterate; ob (see Ob-) + litera, littera, letter. See Letter.]
1. To erase or blot out; to efface; to render undecipherable, as a writing.
2. To wear out; to remove or destroy utterly by any means; to render imperceptible; as. to obliterate ideas; to obliterate the monuments of antiquity. The harsh and bitter feelings of this or that experience are slowly obliterated. W. Black.
1 other Webster entry under this spelling
Obliterate, a. (Zoöl.)
Scarcely distinct; -- applied to the markings of insects.
Shades of meaning
Fernald has no entry of its own for obliterate; he lists it under abolish, cancel.
Where he writes about it:
Cancel, efface, erase, expunge, and obliterate have as their first meaning the removal of written characters or other forms of record. — from cancel
To cancel is, literally, to make a lattice by cross-lines, exactly our English cross out; to efface is to rub off, smooth away the face, as of an inscription; to erase is to scratch out, commonly for the purpose of writing something else in the same space; to expunge, is to punch out with some sharp instrument, so as to show that the words are no longer part of the writing; to obliterate is to cover over or remove, as a letter, as was done by reversing the Roman stylus, and rubbing out with the rounded end what had been written with the point on the waxen tablet. — from cancel