annihilation

Etymology

It is borrowed from Late Latin annihilātiō (“destruction”), also written adnihilātiō,^[2][3][4][5] which may have come partly by way of French annihilation.^[6][7][8] The Latin noun is recorded from the 4th or 5th century, in Jerome, and is formed from the past participle stem of annihilō (“to reduce to nothing”), the source of annihilate, and the suffix -iō.^[2][6] The verb is formed from ad- (“to”) and nihil (“nothing”), the source of nil.^[6] Etymonline notes that the French word was restored from Old French anichilacion (14th century);^[6] the OED compares Middle French anichilacion and adnichilacion, Spanish anihilación and Italian annichilazione.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

The state of having been completely destroyed; nothingness, ruin: probably 1526, in P. Bush's Extripacion of Ignorancy.^[2] Other dictionaries date it later: Merriam-Webster to about 1598, the Oxford Dictionary of English to the mid 16th century, Etymonline and Dictionary.com to the 1630s.^[5][4][6][3]

Semantic evolution

The word was first used of utter destruction and of reduction to nothing (1526, 1541),^[2] and soon also of the abolition of laws, rights and other immaterial things (1579).^[2] In theology it was used from 1613 of the end of a person's whole existence at death, soul as well as body;^[2] the believers in the annihilation of the wicked after death were called annihilationists from 1850.^[6] Johnson (1755) defined it as both the act of reducing to nothing and the state of being reduced to nothing, quoting Hooker.^[9] The sense of the total rout of an army is recorded from 1642,^[2] and in sport a crushing defeat is called an annihilation from 1901.^[2] In physics, since 1904, it is the conversion of matter into energy, especially when a particle meets its antiparticle.^[2][10][11]

Timeline

• c. 1526 – the state of being completely destroyed; nothingness.^[2]
• 1541 – the act of reducing to nothing, total destruction.^[2]
• 1579 – abolition of something immaterial.^[2]
• 1613 – in theology, the end of a person's existence at death.^[2]
• 1642 – the destruction of an army or other body.^[2]
• 1901 – in sport, a crushing defeat.^[2]
• 1904 – in physics, the conversion of matter into energy.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. Complete destruction: the annihilation of the rebel fleet.^[10][11][5]
2. The act of annihilating, or the state of having been annihilated; nothingness.^[10][11][5]
3. In physics, the process in which a particle and its antiparticle, such as an electron and a positron, meet and are converted into energy or other particles.^{[10][11][5][2]}
4. In sport, a crushing defeat.^[2]

Word family

• self-annihilation

Related words

• annihilate
• annihilator
• annihilable
• annihilative
• nihilism
• nil

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
4. ^ a b Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ a b c d e Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
6. ^ a b c d e f Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
7. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
8. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
9. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
10. ^ a b c d Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
11. ^ a b c d The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt