ablation
n.n. the process of removing material from the surface of something, like ice from a glacier or tissue from a body during surgery.
n. the removal of material from a surface by erosion, melting, or surgical excision. In a medical context, it refers to the destruction of tissue using heat, cold, or chemicals.
The glacier undergoes ablation every summer.
Geologists study the rate of ablation on the polar ice caps to predict how rising temperatures will affect global sea levels over the next century.
From Late Middle English ablacioun (“removal”), from Late Latin ablātiō (“a taking away”), from auferō (“to take away, carry off, withdraw, remove”) + -tiō (“-tion”, nominal suffix). Doublet of ablatio. Compare French ablation. By surface analysis, ablat(e) + -ion.