1.  ablation(n = noun.act) cutting out, excision, extirpation - surgical removal of a body part or tissue;
is a kind of operation, surgery, surgical operation, surgical procedure, surgical process
has particulars: adenoidectomy, adrenalectomy, suprarenalectomy, appendectomy, appendicectomy, cholecystectomy, clitoridectomy, female circumcision, embolectomy, endarterectomy, enervation, hypophysectomy, hysterectomy, laminectomy, laryngectomy, lithotomy, lobectomy, lumpectomy, mastectomy, mastoidectomy, meniscectomy, nephrectomy, neurectomy, oophorectomy, ovariectomy, oophorosalpingectomy, ophthalmectomy, orchidectomy, orchiectomy, pancreatectomy, pneumonectomy, prostatectomy, salpingectomy, septectomy, sigmoidectomy, splenectomy, stapedectomy, sympathectomy, thrombectomy, thyroidectomy, tonsillectomy, vasectomy, vulvectomy
Derived form verb ablate₂

2.  ablation(n = noun.process) - the erosive process that reduces the size of glaciers;
is a kind of eating away, eroding, erosion, wearing, wearing away
Derived form verb ablate₁

1.  A carrying or taking away; removal. Jer. Taylor. [1913 Webster]

2.  Extirpation. Dunglison. [1913 Webster]

3.  Wearing away; superficial waste. Tyndall. [1913 Webster]

ablation, n.
1 the surgical removal of body tissue.
2 Geol. the wasting or erosion of a glacier, iceberg, or rock by melting or the action of water.
3 Astronaut. the evaporation or melting of part of the outer surface of a spacecraft through heating by friction with the atmosphere.

Derivative:
ablate v.tr.

Etymology:
F ablation or LL ablatio f. L ablat- (as AB-, lat- past part. stem of ferre carry)

N  nonaddition, subtraction, subtraction, subduction, deduction, retrenchment, removal, withdrawal, ablation, sublation, abstraction, garbling mutilation, detruncation, amputation, abscission, excision, recision, curtailment, minuend, subtrahend, decrease, abrasion, subtracted, subtractive, in deduction, less, short of, minus, without, except, except for, excepting, with the exception of, barring, save, exclusive of, save and except, with a reservation, not counting, if one doesn't count.

N  taking, reception, deglutition, appropriation, prehension, prensation, capture, caption, apprehension, deprehension, abreption, seizure, expropriation, abduction, ablation, subtraction, withdrawal, abstraction, ademption, adrolepsy, dispossession, deprivation, deprivement, bereavement, divestment, disherison, distraint, distress, sequestration, confiscation, eviction, rapacity, rapaciousness, extortion, vampirism, theft, resumption, reprise, reprisal, recovery, clutch, swoop, wrench, grip, haul, take, catch, scramble, taker, captor, subduction, taking, privative, prehensile, predaceous, predal, predatory, predatorial, lupine, rapacious, raptorial, ravenous, parasitic, bereft, at one fell swoop, give an inch and take an ell.