annihilate

[ uh-nahy-uh-leyt ]

verb (used with object)

, an·ni·hi·lat·ed, an·ni·hi·lat·ing.

1. to reduce to utter ruin or nonexistence; destroy utterly:

   The heavy bombing almost annihilated the city.

   Synonyms: demolish, obliterate, smash, desolate, devastate, ravage

2. to destroy the collective existence or main body of; wipe out:

   to annihilate an army.

   Synonyms: demolish, obliterate, smash

3. to annul; make void:

   to annihilate a law.

4. to cancel the effect of; nullify.
5. to defeat completely; vanquish:

   Our basketball team annihilated the visiting team.

annihilate

/ əˈnaɪələbəl; əˈnaɪəˌleɪt /

verb

1. tr to destroy completely; extinguish
2. informal.
   tr to defeat totally, as in debate or argument
3. intr physics to undergo annihilation

Derived Forms

• annihilable, adjective
• anˈnihilative, adjective
• anˈnihiˌlator, noun

Other Words From

• an·ni·hi·la·tive [uh, -, nahy, -, uh, -ley-tiv, ‑, uh, -l, uh, ‑], an·ni·hi·la·to·ry [uh, -, nahy, -, uh, -l, uh, -tawr-ee, ‑-tohr-ee], adjective
• unan·nihi·lated adjective
• unan·nihi·lative adjective
• unan·nihi·la·tory adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of annihilate¹

First recorded in 1350–1400; Middle English adnichilat(e) “destroyed,” from Late Latin annihilātus “brought to nothing,” past participle of annihilāre “to bring to nothing,” from Latin an- an- ² + nihil “nothing” + -āre, infinitive suffix

Word History and Origins

Origin of annihilate¹

C16: from Late Latin annihilāre to bring to nothing, from Latin nihil nothing

Example Sentences

The other portion would be to annihilate hunger shortly before going to sleep.

From Washington Blade

The team knew that matter and antimatter annihilate each other when they meet.

From Science News For Students

These antistar candidates seem to give off the kind of gamma rays that are produced when antimatter — matter’s oppositely charged counterpart — meets normal matter and annihilates.

From Science News

A woman with the self-possession to identify what she wants — and the nerve to go after it — was seemingly most easily understood as a function of derangement, annihilating narcissism or both.

From Washington Post

She might be watching from 565 miles away, but she’s got a Sweet 16 to follow with hope, a son annihilating expectations and a No.

From Washington Post

The J in its name actually stands for Jian—annihilate, eliminate.

From The Daily Beast

“Thirty minutes alone with a man is enough for him to annihilate you,” she remarks, knowingly.

From The Daily Beast

Finally there was the atomic bomb (and the Cold War it created): machine threatened to annihilate all of mankind.

From The Daily Beast

He then went on to compare us to Amalek, the Biblical nation that God commands the Jews to annihilate.

From The Daily Beast

The consequences of the repeated failed attempts to annihilate Israel should and will be reflected in the final status.

From The Daily Beast

To pretend that God can be offended with the actions of men, is to annihilate all the ideas that are given to us of this being.

From Project Gutenberg

They are the spontaneous enemies of truth because they justly apprehend it will annihilate their pretensions.

From Project Gutenberg

Does crossing the sea change or annihilate the churchmanship of the missionary, or the passenger, or the emigrant?

From Project Gutenberg

It compelled the foe to abandon Heilsberg, but it did not annihilate him or necessarily end the war.

From Project Gutenberg

The army he had hoped to annihilate was on its steady and orderly march for Richmond.

From Project Gutenberg

Related Words

• crush
• decimate
• demolish
• eradicate
• exterminate
• extinguish
• finish off
• liquidate
• negate
• obliterate
• quell
• raze
• wipe out