annihilate

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[T] he authorities of the Catholic Church do not defend the existence of Israel - which its enemies want to annihilate, and is ultimately at stake in the conflict - with the same explicit, powerful determination with which they raise their voices in defense of the

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Definitions (11)

Toggle American Heritage definitions American Heritage Dictionary (5)

  1. transitive verb To destroy completely: The naval force was annihilated during the attack.
  2. transitive verb To reduce to nonexistence.
  3. transitive verb To defeat decisively; vanquish.
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Examples (50)

  • The quark and antiquark antimatter annihilate, releasing enough energy to make the massive top quark Even then, you don't automatically end up with the desired particle - in this case, the missing quark. —  Omni: January 1994
  • [T] he authorities of the Catholic Church do not defend the existence of Israel - which its enemies want to annihilate, and is ultimately at stake in the conflict - with the same explicit, powerful determination with which they raise their voices in defense of the —  World and Global Politics Blog
  • And when the particles annihilate, they produce an assortment of ordinary particles, including positrons. —  Science News / Features, Blog Entries, Column Entries, Issues, News Items and Book Reviews
  • Genocide constitutes the most extreme possible terms for settling differences: a stronger party's decision to annihilate or extirpate the weaker.
  • My Muslim friends are telling me that Israel is "the real terrorist," that its goal is to annihilate or enslave the Palestinian people, and it is responsible for not just the current bloodshed but also the 60-year-old tragedy in the Holy Land. —  The White Path
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Roget's II Roget's II: The New Thesaurus

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Roget's II: The New Thesaurus, Third Edition by the Editors of the American Heritage® Dictionary. Copyright © 2003, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Etymologies (3)

Toggle American Heritage etymologies American Heritage Dictionary (1)

  1. Late Latin annihilāre, annihilāt- : Latin ad-, ad- + Latin nihil, nothing; see ne in Indo-European roots.

Toggle Century etymologies Century Dictionary (2)

  1. from Late Latin annihilatus, past participle of annihilare, adnihilare, bring to nothing (a word first used by Jerome), from Latin ad, to, + nihil, nothing: see nihil.
  2. from Late Latin annihilatus, past participle: see the verb.
 

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/əˈnaɪhɪleɪt/
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