annihilation

American  

[uh-nahy-uh-ley-shuhn] / əˌnaɪ əˈleɪ ʃən /

noun

1. an act or instance of annihilating, or of completely destroying or defeating someone or something.

   the brutal annihilation of millions of people.

2. the state of being annihilated; total destruction; extinction.

   fear of nuclear annihilation.

3. Physics.

   1. Also called pair annihilation.  the process in which a particle and antiparticle unite, annihilate each other, and produce one or more photons.

   2. the conversion of rest mass into energy in the form of electromagnetic radiation.

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Etymology

Origin of annihilation

First recorded in 1630–40; from French or directly from Late Latin annihilātiōn- (stem of annihilātiō ); annihilate, -ion

Example Sentences

How much can one film really change a world that seems like it’s careening faster and faster toward annihilation?

From Salon • Mar. 14, 2026

Relations between Washington and Moscow were starting to thaw, yet a staggering stockpile of almost 70,000 nuclear warheads meant the threat of annihilation lingered in the air.

From Slate • Feb. 2, 2026

Gauff summoned a ball kid and asked for three racquets to be restrung, and left the court for a toilet break after the first set annihilation.

From Barron's • Jan. 27, 2026

In his loopy 1957 essay on hipsters, Norman Mailer talked about the “psychic havoc” of living under the threat of nuclear annihilation.

From The Wall Street Journal • Jan. 8, 2026

The wings next to their own wings would shade into vacancy, until each bird was a lonely sound in cold annihilation, a presence after uncreation.

From "The Once and Future King" by T. H. White

Related Words

• decimation
• demolition
• destruction
• elimination
• eradication
• extermination
• extinction
• liquidation