String substitution with "translate" function

(My first attempt at posting didn't make it to my mailbox, so I am
reposting. Apologies to any who get this twice.)

I have been trying to use the translate function to delete a specific string
from entries in a particular column, as in "translate(<column>, 'string',
'')".
What I find is that "translate" is treating the nominated string as a
character class, and is deleting every instance of every character in that
class....
I have tried every which way, but cannot get the behaviour I want. Is it
possible, or am I just seeing the builtin behaviour of "translate", which
cannot be worked around?
TIA