annihilate

== English == === Etymology === Borrowed from Latin annihilātus, perfect passive participle of annihilō (“to reduce to nothing”) (see -ate (verb-forming suffix)), from ad (“to”) + nihil (“nothing”) + -ō (verb-forming suffix). === Pronunciation === (UK) IPA(key): /əˈnaɪ.ə.leɪt/ === 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 and (for higher-mass reactants, especially composite particles such as protons) lighter particles (such as pions, muons, and neutrinos). (archaic) To treat as worthless, to vilify. (transitive) To render null and void; to abrogate. (mathematics) To cause to become zero by means of an annihilator operator ==== Synonyms ==== (to reduce to nothing): benothing, destroy, eradicate, extinguish See also Thesaurus:destroy ==== Antonyms ==== (antonym(s) of “to reduce to nothing”): create, generate ==== Derived terms ==== ==== Related terms ==== ==== Translations ==== ==== Further reading ==== “annihilate”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC. William Dwight Whitney, Benjamin E[li] Smith, editors (1911), “annihilate”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., →OCLC. == Latin == === Verb === annihilāte second-person plural present active imperative of annihilō