Annihilatory

Part of speech: adjective

Definitions

1. Capable of causing complete destruction or total obliteration of something
2. Tending to destroy utterly or reduce to nothing through overwhelming force or effect
3. Having the quality of completely eliminating or wiping out all traces of existence

Etymology: "Annihilatory" is built from the Latin "annihilare," meaning "to reduce to nothing." That verb joins the prefix "ad-" to "nihil," the Latin word for "nothing." English took "annihilate" from it and added the suffix "-ory," which comes from Latin "-orius" and forms adjectives meaning "serving to" or "relating to." The same "nihil" root appears in "nil," the everyday word for zero, and in "nihilism," a belief that nothing has objective meaning. Its sense of total removal is already built into the Latin verb, so the adjective names the quality of doing exactly that.

Synonyms: destructive, devastating, ruinous, obliterating, extirpative

Antonyms: constructive, beneficial, helpful, supportive, nurturing