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

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

Aside from the ongoing menace of nuclear annihilation, the biggest threat we’ve faced as a country was 9/11 when the country’s mainland was attacked by al-Qaeda.

From Salon • Jan. 13, 2026

The annihilation of George Armstrong Custer and the larger part of his Seventh Cavalry steeled the U.S.

From The Wall Street Journal • Oct. 31, 2025

The path unwound; perhaps it was taking them somewhere, willfully, since neither of them could step off it and go knowingly into the annihilation of whiteness that was the grass on either side.

From "The Haunting of Hill House" by Shirley Jackson

Related Words

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