Expugned

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

1. Removed or erased text or information by force or official action
2. To have forcibly struck out or deleted content, often from documents or records
3. Eradicated or eliminated material using power or legal authority

Etymology: "Expugned" is the past form of "expugn," a verb that entered English in Middle English from Old French "expugner," itself from Latin "expugnare," meaning "to take by storm." The Latin is built from "ex-" ("out") and "pugnare" ("to fight"), which in turn comes from "pugnus," "fist." So the core idea underneath the word is fighting one's way out, or fighting something into submission with the fist. Over time the sense shifted from taking a place by force, as an army would capture a fortress, toward the idea of forcibly driving something out or striking it away. That physical violence is what the word still carries: to expugn something is to knock it out of place by main force rather than to remove it gently or by argument.