annex

[uh-neks, an-eks, an-eks, -iks]

verb (used with object)

1. to attach, append, or add, especially to something larger or more important.

2. to incorporate (territory) into the domain of a city, country, or state.

   Germany annexed part of Czechoslovakia.

3. to take or appropriate, especially without permission.

4. to attach as an attribute, condition, or consequence.

noun

1. something annexed.

2. a subsidiary building or an addition to a building.

   The emergency room is in the annex of the main building.

3. something added to a document; appendix; supplement.

   an annex to a treaty.

annex

verb

1. to join or add, esp to something larger; attach

2. to add (territory) by conquest or occupation

3. to add or append as a condition, warranty, etc

4. to appropriate without permission

noun

1. a variant spelling (esp US) of annexe

Other Word Forms

• annexable adjective
• nonannexable adjective
• preannex verb (used with object)
• reannex verb (used with object)
• unannexable adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of annex¹

First recorded in 1350–1400; (verb) Middle English, from Anglo-French, Old French annexer, from Medieval Latin annexāre, derivative of Latin annexus “tied to,” past participle of annectere ( annectent ); (noun) from French annexe or noun use of verb

Word History and Origins

Origin of annex¹

C14: from Medieval Latin annexāre, from Latin annectere to attach to, from nectere to join

Example Sentences

The country resolved to prepare itself for the possibility of a new conflict after Russia annexed the Crimean Peninsula from Ukraine in 2014 and launched a proxy war for control of the Donbas region.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

He has also made it his long-running mission to ensure no Palestinian state arises — something he hoped to achieve by conquering Gaza and annexing the West Bank.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

Hours before the May 1960 opening of Amsterdam’s Anne Frank House, Otto Frank gazes at the empty annex where his family and four other Jews hid from the Nazis for more than two years.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

Israel responded by hinting it could annex the West Bank, the heart of any future state.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

About a quarter are of European descent, and the islands have been under French control since they were annexed in 1853.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

Related Words

• addendum 
• appendix