Quick Answer
Record splits into three senses, and only one of them has a true word-for-word opposite. As a verb: to write down, store or capture: a recording can be undone once it exists: erase, with delete as the same reversal for digital files. As a noun meaning a stored account: medical records, a criminal record: it has no opposite at all: a record either exists or it does not, and absence is not an antonym. As a noun meaning the best performance ever achieved, it takes a labelled contrast on the same scale: the worst on record: a phrase, not a word.
Older lists reached ten by counting words for never recording in the first place: ignore, disregard, overlook, forget, omit: plus the negated word unrecorded, the phrase “leave unrecorded”, and the neighbours suppress and destroy.
Quick Comparison
| Opposite or contrast | Sense of “record” it answers | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Erase (delete, for digital records) | Verb: to write down, store or capture: the recording is removed after existing | The clerk recorded the payment, then erased the entry. |
| The worst on record (phrase: a scale contrast, not a word-for-word antonym) | Noun: the best performance ever achieved | Her time was a club record; his was the worst on record. |
Core Opposites by Sense
Sense 1: The Verb: Writing Down, Storing or Capturing
1. Erase
Meaning: To remove something that has been recorded: writing, data, sound or pictures: so that it no longer exists or can be retrieved.
Example: The technician recorded the readings, then erased them from the board after checking.
Best context: Recordings and entries later removed: tapes, whiteboards, registers, written entries, stored data.
Nuance: Delete is this same reversal in digital dress: you delete a file, an entry, a message; you erase a tape, a board, a pencil mark. The old page counted the two as separate entries; they perform one reversal, divided by territory, so they share this entry. One condition matters throughout this page: erase requires the record to exist first. Nothing can be erased that was never recorded: the fact that separates the true opposite from the neighbours below.
Sense 2: The Noun: A Stored Account
This sense has no antonym, and it is better to say so plainly than to invent one. A record in this sense: the public record, a patient’s records, minutes of a meeting: either exists or does not. English names the gap with phrases: there is no record of the visit, the payment left no record. The adjective unrecorded merely describes information that never became a record: the target word with a negative prefix, not an opposite with a meaning of its own.
Records that exist can be removed: erased, deleted or destroyed: but those verbs attack the keeping of the record, as the neighbours section explains. No word names “the opposite of a record” the way wide names the opposite of narrow.
Sense 3: The Noun: The Best Ever Achieved
2. The worst on record (a scale contrast)
Meaning: The poorest performance or lowest value ever recorded: the far end of the same scale whose welcome end a “record” occupies, as in a world record.
Example: The striker’s forty goals set a club record; the team’s lowest tally is the worst on record.
Best context: Sport, weather and finance: anywhere performances are ranked on one scale and you need its bottom end.
Nuance: This is labelled a contrast, not a true antonym, for two reasons. First, English expresses it in phrases: the worst on record, the lowest ever recorded: not in a single word. Second, beware the trap: a record low is still a record. Record names an extreme at either end of a scale; the best-ever sense is simply the one people usually mean first.
Close Neighbours: Where the Other Old Entries Belong
The old page listed ten “core antonyms”. Beyond erase and its digital form delete above, the rest name something else:
- Omit: the closest neighbour. To omit is to leave an item out of a document while compiling it: it reverses include, and the item was never recorded in the first place. It contrasts with writing in, but nothing that exists is undone.
- Ignore and disregard: one idea counted twice on the old list (its own text called disregard “a more formal alternative to ignore”). Both mean paying no attention: ignore deliberately, overlook by failing to notice: so the event never gets recorded: absence, not opposition.
- Forget: the old text itself admitted this is “not the direct antonym of record”. Forgetting is a failure of memory, and written records exist precisely to survive it: you can forget a fact that is safely on record.
- Unrecorded and leave unrecorded: the adjective is the target word negated, and the “entry” built from it is a phrase, not a word. Both name the state of never having been recorded.
- Suppress: to prevent information from being revealed or published. Suppress opposes publish, not record: a suppressed record still exists.
- Destroy: to eliminate the record by ruining the thing that carries it, as fire destroys registers. It is stronger than erase and aimed at the object; its true partner is preserve, which is why it neighbours this page rather than heading it.
Example Sentences
- The clerk recorded the payment, then erased the entry when the cheque bounced.
- The app records your search history, but you can delete it whenever you like.
- Nobody recorded the meeting, so there was nothing to erase: it went unrecorded.
- She set a school record in the high jump; the lowest clearance ever measured there is the worst on record.
Common Mistakes
Mistake 1: Saying something “was erased” when it was never recorded
❌ The missed appointment was erased from the diary.
✅ The missed appointment was never recorded in the diary.
Erase removes a record that exists. If nothing was written down, the honest words are never recorded or went unrecorded: absence, not removal.
Mistake 2: Counting “unrecorded” as an antonym
A prefix is not a meaning. Unrecorded restates the target word in negative form, and “leave unrecorded” is a phrase naming the same state. Neither reverses record; both describe its absence.
Mistake 3: Treating “forget” as the opposite
Forgetting happens in the mind; recording happens on paper, tape or disk precisely so that memory need not be trusted. A fact can be completely forgotten and perfectly recorded at the same time.
Mistake 4: Calling “a record low” the opposite of “a record”
A record low is itself a record: the lowest value ever recorded. Record marks an extreme at either end of the scale, so the contrast to a best-ever mark is the worst performance on the same scale: the worst on record.
Mini Quiz
1. “The technician recorded the readings in the logbook, then __ them when an error was found.”
A. Erased
B. Ignored
C. Overlooked
Answer: A. The readings existed in the book, so only erased: removing what was recorded: fits. Ignored and overlooked would mean the readings were never written down at all.
2. Which statement is true of record as a noun meaning a stored account, as in “medical records”?
A. Its antonym is unrecorded.
B. It has no true antonym: there is either a record or the absence of one.
C. Its antonym is destroy.
Answer: B. Unrecorded is merely the target word negated, describing information that never became a record, and destroy opposes preserve: it acts on records that already exist.
3. “A record low temperature is…”
A. the opposite of a record
B. not a record at all
C. still a record: the lowest value ever recorded
Answer: C. Record names an extreme at either end of a scale. A record low is an extreme at the unwelcome end, not an opposite and not a non-record.
Short Q&A
Q: What is the main antonym of record?
A: Erase, for the verb: it undoes a recording that exists. For digital material: files, entries, messages: the same reversal wears its digital form, delete.
Q: What is the difference between erase and delete?
A: Territory, not meaning: delete belongs to computing; erase is the wider word, covering tapes, boards and marks as well as data. One reversal, counted once.
Q: Is “omit” an antonym of record?
A: It is the closest neighbour: omit leaves an item out of a document being compiled: the reverse of include. The omitted item was never recorded, so nothing that exists is undone.
Q: What is the opposite of a world record?
A: No single word exists. English uses phrases naming the bottom of the same scale: the worst on record, the lowest ever recorded: and a record low is still a record.
Q: Does the noun “record”: a stored account: have an opposite?
A: No. A record exists, is absent (“there is no record of it”), or is removed after existing. Absence and removal are facts about a record, not an antonym for it.
Key Takeaways
- The verb record has one genuine reversal: erase: removing a recording that exists: with delete as its digital form, counted once.
- Not recording at all: ignore, disregard, overlook, forget: is absence, not opposition: nothing exists to be reversed. Omit is the nearest neighbour, reversing include.
- Unrecorded is the target word with a prefix on it, and “leave unrecorded” is a phrase; neither is an antonym.
- A stored record (the noun) has no opposite: it exists, is absent, or is destroyed, and destroy opposes preserve, not record.
- The best-ever sense contrasts with the worst on record (a phrase): and a record low is still a record.
I’m Leo Jackson, an English writer with a soft spot for the peculiarities of language and vocabulary. He specializes in exploring the nuances of English synonyms, antonyms, helping students, writers, and professionals choose the right word with confidence. My guides combine careful research with clear, practical explanations.
