ANNIHILATE

eliminate, annihilate, extinguish, eradicate, wipe out, decimate, carry off

(verb) kill in large numbers; “the plague wiped out an entire population”

Source: WordNet® 3.1

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Etymology

Verb

annihilate (third-person singular simple present annihilates, present participle annihilating, simple past and past participle annihilated)

To reduce to nothing, to destroy, to eradicate.

(particle physics) To react with antimatter, producing gamma radiation.

(archaic) To treat as worthless, to vilify.

(transitive) To render null and void; to abrogate.

Synonyms

• (to reduce to nothing): benothing, destroy, eradicate, extinguish

• See also destroy

Antonyms

• (to reduce to nothing): create, generate

Source: Wiktionary

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An*ni"hi*late, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Annihilated; p. pr. & vb. n. Annihilating.] Etym: [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.

An*ni"hi*late, a.

Definition: Anhilated. [Archaic] Swift.

Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition

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