Library / English Dictionary

ANNIHILATION

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 I. (noun) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Destruction by annihilating something

Synonyms:

annihilation; obliteration

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Hypernyms ("annihilation" is a kind of...):

destruction; devastation (the termination of something by causing so much damage to it that it cannot be repaired or no longer exists)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "annihilation"):

atomisation; atomization (annihilation by reducing something to atoms)

pulverisation; pulverization (annihilation by pulverizing something)

vaporisation; vaporization (annihilation by vaporizing something)

Derivation:

annihilate (kill in large numbers)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Total destruction

Example:

bomb tests resulted in the annihilation of the atoll

Synonyms:

annihilation; disintegration

Classified under:

Nouns denoting natural events

Hypernyms ("annihilation" is a kind of...):

demolition; destruction; wipeout (an event (or the result of an event) that completely destroys something)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "annihilation"):

extermination; extinction (complete annihilation)

Derivation:

annihilate (kill in large numbers)

Credits

 Context examples: 

Yet you, my creator, detest and spurn me, thy creature, to whom thou art bound by ties only dissoluble by the annihilation of one of us.

(Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)

Sir Thomas's parental solicitude and high sense of honour and decorum, Edmund's upright principles, unsuspicious temper, and genuine strength of feeling, made her think it scarcely possible for them to support life and reason under such disgrace; and it appeared to her that, as far as this world alone was concerned, the greatest blessing to every one of kindred with Mrs. Rushworth would be instant annihilation.

(Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen)

I sympathised with and partly understood them, but I was unformed in mind; I was dependent on none and related to none. ‘The path of my departure was free,’ and there was none to lament my annihilation.

(Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)