Annihilations

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. The events associated with the total destruction or elimination of entities and their presence in reality
2. The processes that constitute the complete eradication of objects or beings, leading to their nonexistence
3. Instances where something is utterly destroyed or wiped out with no trace remaining

Etymology: "Annihilations" is simply the plural of "annihilation," so it refers to several separate acts or instances of wiping something out completely. The singular noun comes from Middle French "annihilation," which was taken from the Late Latin "annihilātiō," itself built on the verb "annihilāre," meaning to reduce to nothing. That verb combines the prefix "ad-," meaning "to," with "nihil," the Latin word for "nothing," so the core idea is turning something into nothing. The English noun is formed by adding the suffix "-ion," which turns a verb into a noun of action, to the verb "annihilate." That makes "annihilation" literally the act of reducing something to nothing, and the plural simply counts such acts.

Synonyms: destruction, eradication, obliteration, extermination, decimation

Antonyms: creation, construction, formation, initiation, development