annihilate

[uh-nahy-uh-leyt]

verb (used with object)

annihilated, annihilating 

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

Other Word Forms

• annihilable adjective
• annihilative adjective
• annihilator noun
• annihilatory adjective
• unannihilated adjective
• unannihilative adjective
• unannihilatory 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

Unlike all those other Aronofsky characters, who must annihilate themselves in search of absolution or perfection, Hank will probably be okay.

From Salon

In their mutually reinforcing preparations to annihilate one another, erase the past and foreclose the possibility of future generations, he concluded, “the superpowers have dutifully embraced this legacy…Adolf Hitler lives on.”

From Salon

The spokesperson added: "We stand ready to annihilate Ms Pisciotta's tall tales before a jury − an exoneration so inevitable that even she, lost in her fog of fantasy, must surely see it coming."

From BBC

Gaza, too, has become such a site, where children, schools and entire futures are being systematically annihilated.

From Salon

Orr got injured before he could annihilate anybody so, mercifully, nobody ended up in the emergency ward.

From BBC

Related Words

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