annihilation

American  

[uh-nahy-uh-ley-shuhn] / əˌnaɪ əˈleɪ ʃən /

noun

1. an act or instance of annihilating, or of completely destroying or defeating someone or something.

   the brutal annihilation of millions of people.

2. the state of being annihilated; total destruction; extinction.

   fear of nuclear annihilation.

3. Physics.

   1. Also called pair annihilation.  the process in which a particle and antiparticle unite, annihilate each other, and produce one or more photons.

   2. the conversion of rest mass into energy in the form of electromagnetic radiation.

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Etymology

Origin of annihilation

First recorded in 1630–40; from French or directly from Late Latin annihilātiōn- (stem of annihilātiō ); annihilate, -ion

Example Sentences

Using new data from the Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope, Professor Tomonori Totani of the University of Tokyo now believes he has identified the predicted gamma ray signal associated with dark matter particle annihilation.

From Science Daily

These are post-hope works, in other words, absorbed by death and annihilation.

From The Wall Street Journal

Incredibly, with the world on the brink of annihilation, this is how information was sent between Washington and Moscow.

From Literature

The annihilation of George Armstrong Custer and the larger part of his Seventh Cavalry steeled the U.S.

From The Wall Street Journal

“Our audience lives in a world in which God has been banished. They live in daily fear of nuclear annihilation,” the director remarks.

From Salon

Related Words

• decimation
• demolition
• destruction
• elimination
• eradication
• extermination
• extinction
• liquidation