annihilate
verbUK /əˈnaɪ.ə.leɪt/
Etymology Borrowed from Latin annihilātus, perfect passive participle of annihilō (“to reduce to nothing”) (see -ate (verb-forming suffix)), from ad (“to”) + nihil (“nothing”) + -ō (verb-forming suffix). See also an-.
1
To reduce to nothing, to destroy, to eradicate.
- An atom bomb can annihilate a whole city.
- But eagerness in this case, as in most others, annihilated its own delight; down came the tottering height, while the disappointed builder found relief for his sorrow in anger—sorrow's best remedy after all.1834, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], chapter XXII, in Francesca Carrara. […], volume II, London: Richard Bentley, […], (successor to Henry Colburn), →OCLC, page 237:
3
Archaic To treat as worthless, to vilify.
- of all the opinions which Antiquity hath had of men in gross, those which I most willingly embrace, and whereon I take most hold, are such as most vilifie, condemne, and annihilate us.1603, Michel de Montaigne, chapter 17, in John Florio, transl., The Essayes […], book II, London: […] Val[entine] Simmes for Edward Blount […], →OCLC:
4
To render null and void; to abrogate.
5
Mathematics, Sciences To cause to become zero by means of an annihilator operator.
- Synonyms
- benothing, destroy, eradicate, extinguish
- Derived terms
- annihilator method, coannihilate, self-annihilate
- Related terms
- annihilable, annihilation, annihilative, annihilator, annul, nihilism, nihilist, null, nullify