Any process whereby sounds or words are left out of spoken words or phrases.

synonym: omission.

Roget 552: obliteration; erasure, rasure^†; cancel, cancellation; circumduction^†; deletion, blot; tabula rasa [Lat.]; effacement, extinction.   

Dutch: deletie, weglating

genetics The loss or absence of one or more nucleotides from a chromosome.

The omission that is made when an editorial change shortens a written passage:
— An editor's deletions frequently upset young authors.

synonyms: cut, excision.

The act of deleting something written or printed.