annihilation

See also: Annihilation

English

Etymology

From Middle French annihilation, from Latin ad (“to”) + nihil (“nothing”). Morphologically annihilate +‎ -ion

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /əˌnaɪ.əˈleɪ.ʃən/

• Audio (Southern England)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -eɪʃən
• Hyphenation: an‧ni‧hi‧la‧tion

Noun

annihilation (countable and uncountable, plural annihilations)

1. The act of destroying or otherwise turning into nothing, or nonexistence.
2. The act of destroying the form or combination of parts under which a thing exists, so that the name can no longer be applied to it.

   the annihilation of a corporation

3. The state of being annihilated.
   • 1902, William James, “Lecture 2”, in The Varieties of Religious Experience […] ‎^[1], London: Longmans, Green & Co.:

     If you ask how religion thus falls on the thorns and faces death, and in the very act annuls annihilation, I cannot explain the matter, for it is religion's secret, and to understand it you must yourself have been a religious man of the extremer type.

4. (physics) The process of a particle and its corresponding antiparticle combining to produce energy.

Synonyms

• (act of reducing to nothing): extinction, eradication
• (state of being annihilated): extinction

Antonyms

• (antonym(s) of “act of reducing to nothing”): creation, generation
• (antonym(s) of “state of being annihilated”): generation

Derived terms

• annihilationism
• annihilationist
• coannihilation
• reannihilation
• self-annihilation

 

Related terms

Related terms

• annihilate
• annihilator
• annihilable
• annihilative
• annihilatory

Translations

act of reducing to nothing

• Arabic: إِفْنَاء m (ʔifnāʔ), تَدْمِير m (tadmīr)
• Armenian: ոչնչացում (hy) (očʻnčʻacʻum)
• Belarusian: знішчэ́нне n (zniščénnje)
• Bulgarian: унищоже́ние (bg) n (uništožénie), изтре́бване (bg) n (iztrébvane)
• Catalan: anihilació f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 毁灭 (zh) (huǐmiè), 毀滅／毁灭 (zh) (huǐmiè)

• Czech: zničení n
• Dutch: vernietiging (nl) f
• Finnish: tuhoaminen (fi), hävittäminen (fi)
• French: annihilation (fr)
• German: Vernichtung (de) f, Zerstörung (de) f
• Hebrew: הַשְׁמָדָה f (hashmadá), חיסול m
• Ido: nihiligo (io)
• Italian: annientamento (it) m, annichilazione (it) f, annichilimento (it) m
• Japanese: 根絶 (ja) (こんぜつ, konzetsu), 殲滅 (ja) (せんめつ, senmetsu)
• Korean: 전멸(全滅) (ko) (jeonmyeol)
• Kurdish:

  Central Kurdish: فەوتاندن (fewtandin), لەناوبردن (lenawbirdin)

• Macedonian: уништување n (uništuvanje)
• Maori: korehāhā
• Persian: نابودی (fa) (nâbudi)
• Polish: zniszczenie (pl) n, niszczenie (pl) n
• Portuguese: aniquilação (pt) f
• Romanian: anihilare (ro) f
• Russian: уничтоже́ние (ru) n (uničtožénije), истребле́ние (ru) n (istreblénije), разруше́ние (ru) n (razrušénije)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: униште́ње n

  Roman: uništénje (sh) n

• Slovak: zničenie n
• Slovene: uničenje (sl) n
• Spanish: aniquilación (es) f
• Swedish: utplåning (sv) c, förintelse (sv) c, utplånande (sv) n
• Ukrainian: зни́щення n (znýščennja)
• Yiddish: פֿאַרטיליקונג f (fartilikung)

state of being annihilated

• Finnish: tuhoutuminen (fi)
• Italian: annientamento (it) m, annichilazione (it) f, annichilimento (it) m
• Japanese: 全滅 (ja) (せんめつ, senmetsu), 絶滅 (ja) (ぜつめつ, zetsumetsu)
• Kurdish:

  Central Kurdish: لەناوبردن (lenawbirdin)

• Maori: korehāhā, whakamōtītanga
• Polish: anihilacja (pl) f
• Portuguese: aniquilação (pt) f
• Romanian: anihilare (ro) f
• Russian: уничтоже́ние (ru) n (uničtožénije)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: униште́ње n

  Roman: uništénje (sh) n

• Spanish: aniquilación (es) f

(physics) process of a particle and its corresponding antiparticle combining to produce energy

• Arabic: إِفْنَاء m (ʔifnāʔ)
• Bulgarian: анихилация (anihilacija)
• Catalan: anihilació f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 湮灭 (zh) (yānmiè), 湮滅／湮灭 (zh) (yānmiè)

• Czech: anihilace f
• Finnish: annihilaatio
• German: Annihilation (de) f
• Ido: nihiligo (io)
• Italian: annientamento (it) m, annichilazione (it) f, annichilimento (it) m
• Malay: pemusnahhabisan
• Polish: anihilacja (pl) f
• Portuguese: aniquilação (pt) f
• Romanian: anihilare (ro) f
• Russian: аннигиля́ция (ru) f (annigiljácija)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: анихила́ција f

  Roman: anihilácija (sh) f

• Spanish: aniquilación (es) f

Further reading

• “annihilation”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• “annihilation”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.
• “annihilation”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.

French

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin annihilātiō.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /a.ni.i.la.sjɔ̃/

• Audio

  (file)

Noun

annihilation f (plural annihilations)

1. annihilation

Further reading

• “annihilation”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.