annihilate

English

Etymology

From (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Latin annihilō (“I reduce to nothing”), from ad (“to”) + nihil (“nothing”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /əˈnaɪə.leɪt/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

Verb

1. To reduce to nothing, to destroy, to eradicate.

   An atom bomb can annihilate a whole city.

2. (particle physics) To react with antimatter, producing gamma radiation.
3. (archaic) To treat as worthless, to vilify.
   • Template:RQ:Florio Montaigne Essayes
4. (transitive) To render null and void; to abrogate.

Synonyms

• (to reduce to nothing): benothing, destroy, eradicate, extinguish
• See also Thesaurus:destroy

Antonyms

• (to reduce to nothing): create, generate

Related terms

• annihilable
• annihilation
• annihilative
• annihilator
• annul
• nihilism
• nihilist
• null
• nullify

 

Translations

to reduce to nothing, to destroy, to eradicate

• Arabic: أَفْنَى (ʔafnā)
• Bulgarian: унищожавам (bg) (uništožavam), изтребвам (bg) (iztrebvam)
• Catalan: anihilar (ca), aniquilar (ca)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 殲滅／歼灭 (zh) (jiānmiè), 歼灭 (zh) (jiānmiè), 毁灭 (zh) (huǐmiè)

• Czech: vyhladit
• Danish: annihilere, tilintetgøre (da)
• Dutch: vernietigen (nl)
• Esperanto: neniigi
• Finnish: hävittää (fi)
• French: annihiler (fr), anéantir (fr)
• German: vernichten (de)
• Greek: εκμηδενίζω (el) (ekmidenízo)
• Hungarian: megsemmisít (hu)
• Icelandic: tortíma (is)
• Ido: nihiligar (io)
• Interlingue:
• Italian: annichilire (it), annientare (it)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Japanese: 撲滅する (ja) (bokumetsu suru), 殲滅する (ja) (semmetsu suru), 根絶する (ja) (konzetsu suru), 根刮ぎにする (ja) (nekosogi ni suru), 絶滅させる (ja) (zetsumetsu saseru)
• Kurdish:

  Sorani:

• Latin: annihilō (la)
• Maori: urupatu, whakamōtī
• Norwegian: tilintetgjøre (no)
• Old English: adilgian
• Persian: نابود کردن (nâbud kardan), از بین بردن (az beyn bordan)
• Polish: unicestwiać (pl) impf, unicestwić (pl) pf
• Portuguese: aniquilar (pt)
• Romanian: anihila (ro)
• Russian: уничтожа́ть (ru) impf (uničtožátʹ), уничто́жить (ru) pf (uničtóžitʹ), истребля́ть (ru) impf (istrebljátʹ), истреби́ть (ru) pf (istrebítʹ)
• Spanish: aniquilar (es), anihilar (es) (rare)
• Swedish: tillintetgöra (sv), förinta (sv), förgöra (sv)
• Thai: กวาดล้าง (th) (gwàat-láang), ทำลาย (th) (tam-laai)
• Ukrainian: зни́щувати impf (znýščuvaty), зни́щити pf (znýščyty)

to react with antimatter

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 湮灭 (zh) (yan mie)

• Finnish: annihiloitua
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Polish: anihilować pf or impf
• Portuguese: aniquilar (pt)
• Russian: аннигилировать (ru) (annigilirovatʹ)

Further reading

• “annihilate”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• “annihilate”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.

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Latin

Verb

(deprecated template usage) annihilāte

1. second-person plural present active imperative of annihilō