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Annihilate - 6 dictionary results

an⋅ni⋅hi⋅late

   [uh-nahy-uh-leyt]
–verb (used with object), -lat⋅ed, -lat⋅ing.
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.
Origin:
1350–1400; ME adnichilat(e) destroyed < LL annihilātus brought to nothing, annihilated (ptp. of annihilāre) (L an- an- 2 + nihil nothing + -ātus -ate 1 )
Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1)
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2006.
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Language Translation for : Annihilate
Spanish: aniquilar, German: vernichten, Japanese: 絶滅させる
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an·ni·hi·late     (ə-nī'ə-lāt')  Pronunciation Key 
v.   an·ni·hi·lat·ed, an·ni·hi·lat·ing, an·ni·hi·lates

v.   tr.
    1. To destroy completely: The naval force was annihilated during the attack.
    2. To reduce to nonexistence.
    3. To defeat decisively; vanquish.
  2. To nullify or render void; abolish.
v.   intr. Physics
To participate in annihilation, as an electron and a positron do.

[Late Latin annihilāre, annihilāt- : Latin ad-, ad- + Latin nihil, nothing; see ne in Indo-European roots.]
an·ni'hi·la·bil'i·ty (-lə-bĭl'ĭ-tē) n., an·ni'hi·la·ble (-lə-bəl) adj., an·ni'hi·la'tor n.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2006 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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annihilate 
1525, from an obsolete adj. meaning "reduced to nothing" (1388), originally the pp. of a verb, anihil, from O.Fr. annihiler, from L.L. annihilare "to reduce to nothing," from L. ad- "to" + nihil "nothing" (see nil).

Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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annihilate

verb
kill in large numbers; "the plague wiped out an entire population" [syn: eliminate] 

WordNet® 3.0, © 2006 by Princeton University.
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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 destroy the existence of; to cause to cease to be.

It impossible for any body to be utterly annihilated. --Bacon.

2. To destroy the form or peculiar distinctive properties of, so that the specific thing no longer exists; as, to annihilate a forest by cutting down the trees. "To annihilate the army." --Macaulay.

3. To destroy or eradicate, as a property or attribute of a thing; to make of no effect; to destroy the force, etc., of; as, to annihilate an argument, law, rights, goodness.

Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.
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Annihilate

An*ni"hi*late\ (an*n[imac]"h[i^]*l[asl]t), a. Annihilated. [Archaic] --Swift.

Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.
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