/ əˈnaɪəleɪt; NAmE / verb [ vn ]
1.
to destroy sb/sth completely :
The human race has enough weapons to annihilate itself.
2.
to defeat sb/sth completely :
She annihilated her opponent, who failed to win a single game.
► an·ni·hi·la·tion / əˌnaɪəˈleɪʃn; NAmE / noun [ U ]:
the annihilation of the whole human race
••
WORD ORIGIN
late Middle English (originally as an adjective meaning destroyed, annulled ): from late Latin annihilatus reduced to nothing, from the verb annihilare , from ad- to + nihil nothing. The sense destroy utterly dates from the mid 16th cent.