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; Middle English adnichilat(e) destroyed < Late Latin annihilātus brought to nothing, annihilated (past participle of annihilāre) (Latin an-an-2 + nihil nothing + -ātus-ate1)
1520s, from an obsolete adj. meaning "reduced to nothing" (late 14c.), originally the pp. of a verb, anihil, from O.Fr. annichiler, from L.L. annihilare "to reduce to nothing," from L. ad- "to" + nihil "nothing" (see nil).