self-annihilation

American  

[self-uh-nahy-uh-ley-shuhn, self-] / ˈsɛlf əˌnaɪ əˈleɪ ʃən, ˌsɛlf- /

noun

1. self-destruction; suicide.

2. surrender, abnegation, or immolation of the self in mystic contemplation of or union with God.

---

self-annihilation British  

noun

1. the surrender of the self in mystical contemplation, union with God, etc

---

Etymology

Origin of self-annihilation

First recorded in 1640–50

Example Sentences

In 2025 they discovered that the existential crisis it described wasn’t after all as big as any of the ones they face from military, industrial collapse, demographic self-annihilation and industrial decay.

From The Wall Street Journal

It’s a quintessential Joan Didion image: She imagines the day after the human race is gone, capturing both apocalyptic self-annihilation and wonder at the tremendous efforts we make to do something meaningful with our time.

From Los Angeles Times

So many years later, it’s worth critically reassessing the decisions that conferred on humanity such a power of self-annihilation.

From Salon

The San Francisco Project could end of the century of existential risk that began when the Manhattan Project first made us capable of self-annihilation.

From Salon

“The honeybee: dangerous with a power far beyond its size, but only at the price of self-annihilation.”

From New York Times