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Efface vs Ingratiate - What's the difference?

efface | ingratiate |

In reflexive terms the difference between efface and ingratiate

is that efface is to make oneself inobtrusive as if due to modesty or diffidence while ingratiate is to bring oneself into favour with someone by flattering or trying to please him or her.

As verbs the difference between efface and ingratiate

is that efface is to erase (as anything impressed or inscribed upon a surface); to render illegible or indiscernible while ingratiate is to bring oneself into favour with someone by flattering or trying to please him or her.

efface

English

Verb

(effac)
  • To erase (as anything impressed or inscribed upon a surface); to render illegible or indiscernible.
  • Do not efface what I've written on the chalkboard.
  • * 1825 , , The Talisman , A.L. Burt Company (1832?), 15:
  • An outline of the same device might be traced on his shield, though many a blow had almost effaced the painting.
  • To cause to disappear as if by rubbing out]] or [[strike out, striking out.
  • Some people like to efface their own memories with alcohol.
  • (reflexive) To make oneself inobtrusive as if due to modesty or diffidence.
  • Many people seem shy, but they really just efface for meekness.
  • (medicine) Of the cervix during pregnancy, to thin and stretch in preparation for labor.
  • Some females efface 75% by the 39th week of pregnancy.

    Derived terms

    * effaceable * effacement * effacer * self-effacing

    See also

    * deface ----

    ingratiate

    English

    Verb

  • (reflexive) To bring oneself into favour with someone by flattering or trying to please him or her.
  • * 1849 , , Shirley , ch. 15:
  • [H]e considered this offering an homage to his merits, and an attempt on the part of the heiress to ingratiate herself into his priceless affections.
  • * 1903 , , The Way of All Flesh , ch. 58:
  • [H]e would pat the children on the head when he saw them on the stairs, and ingratiate himself with them as far as he dared.
  • * 2007 July 9, , " Why Maliki Is Still Around," Time (retrieved 26 May 2014):
  • He ingratiated himself with the Kurdish bloc when he stood up to aggressive Turkish rhetoric about the Kurdish border in May.
  • To recommend; to render easy or agreeable.
  • * , "Sermon XIII" in Miscellaneous Theological Works of Henry Hammond, Volume 3 (1850 edition), p. 283 (Google preview):
  • What difficulty would it [the love of Christ] not ingratiate to us?