Shortening of the uterine cervix and thinning of its walls as it is dilated during labor.

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

Withdrawing into the background; making yourself inconspicuous.

synonym: self-effacement.

Dutch: bescheidenheid