(comparative more annihilative, superlative most annihilative)
- Serving to annihilate; destructive.
- In 21st century, almost all leading counties of the world possess annihilative atomic weapons.
Part or all of this entry has been imported from the 1913 edition of Webster's Dictionary, which is now free of copyright and hence in the public domain. The imported definitions may be significantly out of date, and any more recent senses may be completely missing.
Variant of annihilate
transitive verbannihilated, annihilating
- to destroy completely; put out of existence; demolish: an atomic bomb can annihilate a city
- to consider or cause to be of no importance or without effect; nullify: to annihilate another's ambition
- to kill
- to conquer decisively; crush
Origin of annihilate; from Ecclesiastical Late Latin annihilatus, past participle of annihilare, to bring to nothing ; from Classical Latin ad, to + nihil, nothing