self-annihilation

noun

self-an·​ni·​hi·​la·​tion ˌself-ə-ˌnī-ə-ˈlā-shən 

: annihilation of the self (as in mystical contemplation of God)

Examples of self-annihilation in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

The will toward self-annihilation is a familiar human characteristic. — Henry Freedland, Harpers Magazine, 24 Oct. 2025

Her self-annihilation is grisly and impossible to misinterpret as a final repudiation of her role in the HMS Courageous bombing and, until Grace announces she’d like Hal to be her vice-president, is the most intense and far-reaching twist of the episode. — Sophie Brookover, Vulture, 16 Oct. 2025

And he is compelled by a righteous fury to warn others of his son’s dark path to self-annihilation. — Miles Klee, Rolling Stone, 22 June 2025

The broken family exults in its own debasement just like the protesters and activist judges who pursue self-annihilation as liberation. — Armond White, National Review, 19 Mar. 2025

The clock, which is updated by the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, is meant to be a metaphor for how close humanity is to self-annihilation. — Rebecca Morin, USA TODAY, 29 Jan. 2025

The image becomes metabolized by the fungus in a process of self-annihilation and, like the memory itself, given a new kind of presence through its decay. — Mariana Fernández, ARTnews.com, 18 Dec. 2024

The Doomsday Clock is a metaphor for how close humanity is to self-annihilation, according to the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, which has maintained the clock since 1947. — Doyle Rice, The Courier-Journal, 23 Jan. 2024

These stellar objects, called dark stars, might have been fueled not by nuclear fusion but by the self-annihilation of dark matter—the invisible stuff that is thought to make up about 85 percent of the matter in the universe. — Stephanie Pappas, Scientific American, 20 July 2023

Word History

First Known Use

1641, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for self-annihilation

• acclimatisation
• acclimatization
• acidification
• actualization
• annualization
• autocorrelation
• autoregulation
• beatification
• beneficiation
• biodegradation
• biotransformation
• bureaucratization