annihilate

verb

an·ni·hi·late | \ ə-ˈnī-ə-ˌlāt

annihilated; annihilating

Definition of annihilate

transitive verb

1a : to cause to cease to exist : to do away with entirely so that nothing remains

b : to destroy a considerable part of Bombs annihilated the city. The enemy troops were annihilated.

c : to defeat overwhelmingly : rout annihilated the visitors 56–0

2a : to cause to be of no effect : nullify a right to freedom that cannot be annihilated

b : to destroy the substance or force of Fear can annihilate one's confidence.

3 : to regard as of no consequence

4 : to cause (something, such as a particle and its antiparticle) to vanish or cease to exist by coming together and changing into other forms of energy (such as photons) matter and antimatter annihilate each other

intransitive verb

of a particle and its antiparticle : to vanish or cease to exist by coming together and changing into other forms of energy (such as photons)

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Examples of annihilate in a Sentence

The enemy troops were annihilated. He annihilated his opponent in the last election.

Recent Examples on the Web

Windows will pretty much disappear; trees, signs and power poles annihilated; roofs will most likely be torn off. — Nathaniel Scharping, Discover Magazine, "Hurricanes: How These Destructive Storms Form, and Why They Get So Strong," 26 June 2019 Jack Mayfield tied an Astros rookie record with three doubles while Yordan Álvarez annihilated another home run as the Astros cruised to a 7-2, series-clinching win against the Blue Jays at Minute Maid Park on Saturday. — Chandler Rome, Houston Chronicle, "Jack Mayfield, Yordan Álvarez spark Astros over Blue Jays," 15 June 2019 Taylor letting Bobby and Chuck annihilate each other and slipping away like a bobcat. — Elena Nicolaou, refinery29.com, "Billions Season 4 Finale Recap: Et Tu, Bobby?," 4 June 2019 Over the past five years the intriguing gamma-ray signal has seemed more and more likely to be the detritus of annihilating WIMPs. — Quanta Magazine, "Dwarf Galaxies Dim Hopes of Dark Matter," 25 Oct. 2014 Built by Boeing, the four-engine bomber was the United States’ primary weapon of destruction in the air campaign to annihilate cities and bring Nazi Germany to its knees. — Chuck Thompson, Popular Mechanics, "'Cold Blue' Shows the B-17 Bomber Like You've Never Seen It Before," 16 May 2019 That's because packaging the charm quark in the baryon and anticharm quark in the meson separates them, keeping them from annihilating each other. — Adrian Cho, Science | AAAS, "Exotic particles called pentaquarks may be less weird than previously thought," 5 June 2019 Chapter by chapter, Rovelli shows how modern physics has annihilated common understandings of time. — Alan Lightman, New York Times, "Benedict Cumberbatch Meets Albert Einstein in Carlo Rovelli’s New Audiobook," 14 May 2018 Hand sanitizers often contain 70 percent or more isopropanol or ethanol, which usually annihilates bacteria. — Beth Mole, Ars Technica, "Hospital superbugs are evolving to survive hand sanitizers," 5 Aug. 2018

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'annihilate.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.