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View synonyms for annihilate

annihilate

[ uh-nahy-uh-leyt ]

verb (used with object)

, an·ni·hi·lat·ed, an·ni·hi·lat·ing.
  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
“Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged” 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012


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Derived Forms

  • annihilable, adjective
  • anˈnihilative, adjective
  • anˈnihiˌlator, noun
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Other Words From

  • an·ni·hi·la·tive [uh, -, nahy, -, uh, -ley-tiv, ‑, uh, -l, uh, ‑], an·ni·hi·la·to·ry [uh, -, nahy, -, uh, -l, uh, -tawr-ee, ‑-tohr-ee], adjective
  • unan·nihi·lated adjective
  • unan·nihi·lative adjective
  • unan·nihi·la·tory adjective
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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
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Word History and Origins

Origin of annihilate1

C16: from Late Latin annihilāre to bring to nothing, from Latin nihil nothing
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Example Sentences

The other portion would be to annihilate hunger shortly before going to sleep.

The team knew that matter and antimatter annihilate each other when they meet.

These antistar candidates seem to give off the kind of gamma rays that are produced when antimatter — matter’s oppositely charged counterpart — meets normal matter and annihilates.

A woman with the self-possession to identify what she wants — and the nerve to go after it — was seemingly most easily understood as a function of derangement, annihilating narcissism or both.

She might be watching from 565 miles away, but she’s got a Sweet 16 to follow with hope, a son annihilating expectations and a No.

The J in its name actually stands for Jian—annihilate, eliminate.

“Thirty minutes alone with a man is enough for him to annihilate you,” she remarks, knowingly.

Finally there was the atomic bomb (and the Cold War it created): machine threatened to annihilate all of mankind.

He then went on to compare us to Amalek, the Biblical nation that God commands the Jews to annihilate.

The consequences of the repeated failed attempts to annihilate Israel should and will be reflected in the final status.

To pretend that God can be offended with the actions of men, is to annihilate all the ideas that are given to us of this being.

They are the spontaneous enemies of truth because they justly apprehend it will annihilate their pretensions.

Does crossing the sea change or annihilate the churchmanship of the missionary, or the passenger, or the emigrant?

It compelled the foe to abandon Heilsberg, but it did not annihilate him or necessarily end the war.

The army he had hoped to annihilate was on its steady and orderly march for Richmond.

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