annihilate

annihilate
annihilative /euh nuy"euh lay'tiv, -euh leuh-/, annihilatory /euh nuy"euh leuh tawr'ee, -tohr'ee/, adj.
/euh nuy"euh layt'/, v.t., annihilated, annihilating.
1. to reduce to utter ruin or nonexistence; destroy utterly: The heavy bombing almost annihilated the city.
2. to destroy the collective existence or main body of; wipe out: to annihilate an army.
3. to annul; make void: to annihilate a law.
4. to cancel the effect of; nullify.
5. to defeat completely; vanquish: Our basketball team annihilated the visiting team.
[1350-1400; ME adnichilat(e) destroyed < LL annihilatus brought to nothing, annihilated (ptp. of annihilare) (L an- AN-2 + nihil nothing + -atus -ATE1)]
Syn. 1. ravage, devastate, desolate. 1, 2. smash, obliterate, demolish.

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Universalium. 2010.

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  • Annihilate — An*ni hi*late, v. t. [imp. & p. p. {Annihilated}; p. pr. & vb. n. {Annihilating}.] [L. annihilare; ad + nihilum, nihil, nothing, ne hilum (filum) not a thread, nothing at all. Cf. {File}, a row.] 1. To reduce to nothing or nonexistence; to… …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • annihilate — [ə nī′ə lāt΄] vt. annihilated, annihilating [< LL(Ec) annihilatus, pp. of annihilare, to bring to nothing < L ad, to + nihil, nothing] 1. to destroy completely; put out of existence; demolish [an atomic bomb can annihilate a city] 2. to… …   English World dictionary

  • Annihilate — An*ni hi*late (an*n[imac] h[i^]*l[asl]t), a. Annihilated. [Archaic] Swift. [1913 Webster] …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • annihilate — I verb abolish, annul, blast, cancel, consume, crush, cut down, decimate, demolish, destroy, devour, dismantle, dissolve, efface, eliminate, end, eradicate, expunge, exterminate, extinguish, extirpate, invalidate, kill, liquidate, massacre,… …   Law dictionary

  • annihilate — (v.) 1520s, from an obsolete adjective meaning reduced to nothing (late 14c.), originally the pp. of a verb, anihil, from O.Fr. annichiler (14c.), from L.L. annihilare to reduce to nothing, from L. ad to (see AD (Cf. ad )) + nihil nothing (see… …   Etymology dictionary

  • annihilate — extinguish, *abolish, abate Analogous words: obliterate, efface, expunge, blot out, cancel, *erase: extirpate, *exterminate, eradicate, wipe Contrasted words: create, *invent, discover: *make, form, fashion, forge, shape: * …   New Dictionary of Synonyms

  • annihilate — [v] destroy completely abate, abolish, abrogate, annul, blot out*, crush*, decimate, demolish, do in*, eradicate, erase, expunge, exterminate, extinguish, extirpate, finish off, invalidate, liquidate, massacre, murder, negate, nullify, obliterate …   New thesaurus

  • annihilate — ► VERB 1) destroy completely. 2) informal defeat completely. DERIVATIVES annihilation noun annihilator noun. ORIGIN Latin annihilare reduce to nothing …   English terms dictionary

  • annihilate — [16] Annihilate comes from the past participle of the late Latin verb annihilāre, meaning literally ‘reduce to nothing’ (a formation based on the noun nihil ‘nothing’, source of English nihilism and nil). There was actually an earlier English… …   The Hutchinson dictionary of word origins

  • annihilate — [[t]əna͟ɪɪleɪt[/t]] annihilates, annihilating, annihilated 1) VERB To annihilate something means to destroy it completely. [V n] There are lots of ways of annihilating the planet... [V n] The Army was annihilated. Derived words: annihilation… …   English dictionary

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