Definition of "effacement"

effacement

noun
countable and uncountable, plural effacements
1. The act of expunging, of wiping out; expungement.
2. Withdrawal in order to make oneself inconspicuous; the making of oneself inconspicuous.
  Quotations
  Native Americans seem to have always placed great value on silence and direct experience, and in indigenous cultures in general, silence denotes respect and self-effacement.
  2007, John Zerzan, Silence, page 3
3. (medicine) A shortening, or thinning, of the cervix before or during early labour.