obliviate means to forget; to wipe from existence. Lexicurio rates it Sui generis — a strength score of 91 out of 100.
Why “obliviate” is a great word
To actively and deliberately erase something from memory, often with magical or clinical precision. Its etymology is From Latin oblīviō, oblīviōn- ("forgetfulness") + the English verb-forming suffix -ate, with the Latin root oblīvīscī ("to forget") perhaps originally meaning "to smooth over, erase." Unlike "obliterate" (which demolishes the physical object) or "forget" (a passive lapse), to obliviate is a targeted act upon the mind itself. It is the glint of a wand leaving a blankness behind the eyes, the hum of a machine erasing a single searing moment, or the slow, deliberate work to sand down a painful memory until only a smooth scar remains—a quiet violence against time, making a past cease to have happened.
Etymology
From oblivion + -ate (verb-forming suffix), itself either from Old French oblivion (13th century) or directly from Latin oblīviō, ultimately from oblīvīscor (“to forget”), originally “even out, smooth over, erase”; further perhaps from ob- (“against, towards”) + the root of lēvis (“smooth”) + -scor (“forming inchoative verbs”).
verb
- To forget; to wipe from existence.“Near-synonym: obliterate”