annihilate

English

Etymology

From Latin annihilō (“I reduce to nothing”), from ad (“to”) + nihil (“nothing”).

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /əˈnaɪə.leɪt/

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Verb

annihilate (third-person singular simple present annihilates, present participle annihilating, simple past and past participle annihilated)

1. To reduce to nothing, to destroy, to eradicate.

   An atom bomb can annihilate a whole city.

   • 1834, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], chapter XXII, in Francesca Carrara. , volume II, London: Richard Bentley, , (successor to Henry Colburn), →OCLC, page 237:

     But eagerness in this case, as in most others, annihilated its own delight; down came the tottering height, while the disappointed builder found relief for his sorrow in anger—sorrow's best remedy after all.

2. (particle physics) To react with antimatter, producing gamma radiation and (for higher-mass reactants, especially composite particles such as protons) lighter particles (such as pions, muons, and neutrinos).
3. (archaic) To treat as worthless, to vilify.
   • 1603, Michel de Montaigne, chapter 17, in John Florio, transl., The Essayes , book II, London: Val Simmes for Edward Blount , →OCLC:

     of all the opinions which Antiquity hath had of men in gross, those which I most willingly embrace, and whereon I take most hold, are such as most vilifie, condemne, and annihilate us.

4. (transitive) To render null and void; to abrogate.

Synonyms

• (to reduce to nothing): benothing, destroy, eradicate, extinguish
• See also Thesaurus:destroy

Antonyms

• (antonym(s) of "to reduce to nothing"): create, generate

Derived terms

• self-annihilate

Related terms

Translations

Further reading

• “annihilate”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• “annihilate”, in The Century Dictionary , New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.

Latin

Verb

annihilāte

1. second-person plural present active imperative of annihilō