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wash away

B1 neutral separable transitive
In simple words

Water removes or destroys something completely, carrying it away.

Literal meaning: For water to move something away.

Meanings

1 B1 neutral

For water (e.g. floods, rain, tides) to carry something away or destroy it completely.

"The heavy rains washed away the footpath near the river."

Grammar: separable
2 B2 idiomatic neutral

(Figurative) To completely remove a feeling, memory, or negative experience.

"She hoped that time would wash away the painful memories."

"And can it be that in a world so full and busy the loss of one creature makes a void in any heart, so wide and deep that nothing but the width and depth of eternity can fill it up?"

Grammar: separable
Usage notes

Used literally for floods, rain, and tides destroying or removing things. Also used figuratively to mean removing feelings like guilt, sadness, or sin. Common in religious and emotional language.

Commonly used with

flood rain guilt tears bridge sins soil memory

Forms

Base
wash away
I/you/we/they
3rd person
washes away
he/she/it
Past simple
washed away
yesterday
Past participle
washed away
have + pp
-ing form
washing away
continuous

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Synonyms

erode carry away sweep away remove eliminate erase

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