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

Some hardliners would like Israel to annex the whole of the Gaza Strip.

Read more on BBC

Local officials denied the operator’s request to be annexed into Tucson and have access to the city’s water.

Read more on Barron's

Local officials denied the operator’s request to be annexed into Tucson and have access to the city’s water.

Read more on Barron's

One oil depot in the Crimean peninsula - which Moscow illegally annexed from Ukraine in 2014 - has been burning for three days following a second Ukrainian drone attack in a week.

Read more on BBC

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

Related Words

• addendum 
• appendix