to blot out
8
5.4
- phrasal verb
- /blɑt aʊt/
:
ocultar
- Ascending high into the atmosphere, Tambora's emissions spread across the globe, blotting out the sun for almost an entire year.
You know, a weather pattern where clouds actually form and blot out the sun and then rain upon the land.
- You know, a weather pattern where clouds actually form and blot out the sun and then rain upon the land.
- OK, So if you were to watch this from the moon, you'll see this dark orb move slowly and begin to blot out the sun.
- The trampling of the memorial flowers is an act of repression, but what you tried to blot out and refuse to integrate returns with greater vigor.
Examples
-
The entire park is plunged into darkness as the craft above blots out the sun.
Fiction book (1996) -
Above, gray clouds massed in the sky, blotting out the sinking sun and its wan warmth.
Fiction book (2000) -
And as for the future, I blot out, as quickly as I can, any thought of it.
Academic text (2011) -
The other ship was visible now, black on black, blotting out a section of stars.
Fiction book (1991) -
I put my hands over my eyes, blotting out all sight.
Fiction book (1995) -
And if we could get in the right angle, the moon could just barely blot out the light from a star.
-
Her head filled the window, blotting out a distant mountain, the sky, and the sun.
Fiction book (1993) -
The hulking shape of the tower rose up to blot out the sky.
Fiction book (1992) -
A fine drizzle fogged the window, blotting out the cars in the parking lot below.
Fiction book (1996) -
The thick fog will blot out the city skyline, making it impossible to see the buildings.
Synonyms
∞
1.0
To keep something so others cannot see or understand it
314
3.7
To hide something so people cannot see or find out about it
282
3.7
To hide something so others cannot see or find it
254
1.6
To cover something completely so it cannot be seen
165
3.4
To change how someone or something looks to hide who they are
144
1.6
Remove marks, writing, or digital files so they are no longer visible
111
3.7
To cover part of something to hide or protect it
102
6.8
To make people not notice something by being more obvious
86
7.0
Make something hard to see or understand
71
7.5
To destroy something completely so nothing remains
38
6.0
To cover something completely, often with a cloth
38
4.0
To stop yourself remembering or noticing something unpleasant
24
5.0
To cover something so others cannot easily see or understand it
20
4.2
To cover completely with something so it is hard to see or reach
15
4.6
To cover completely so it cannot be seen, often by water or strong feeling
12
6.1
To hide information so people cannot see it
7
5.2
To make something hard to see or understand
4
4.2
Cover something completely so it cannot be seen or noticed
1
8.2
To cover something completely so you cannot see or understand it
1
6.3
Remove or hide personal details so a person cannot be recognized
1
3.9
To cover writing with white fluid so it cannot be seen
1
6.1
To make an outline, sound, or feeling less clear
1
6.4
To remove words or other information from a document to hide them
Completely covered or removed so nothing remains
To make the outline or image faint and hard to see
Make the view hard to see because of fog or smoke
To make something hard to see or understand
Make something unclear or hard to understand
To make a place or screen completely dark so no light shows
Antonyms
How Obscured
Surface Forms
Morphology
blot + out
There is a clear link to the constituents: 'blot' (to mark or cover) plus the particle 'out' yields a sense of covering/obscuring or removing completely. However, the extension to erasing from sight or memory is somewhat metaphorical and the exact sense (especially 'erase from memory') may not be fully predictable to a B1 learner, so it is only partially transparent.
Etymology
Blot out comes from the image of a dark blot spreading out over a page and hiding the words or picture. So, to blot out something today means 'to make it impossible to see, read, or remember'.