annihilation

The complete destruction of someone or something.

• They feared the annihilation of their city.
• The weapons threatened total annihilation.
• Only a treaty could prevent nuclear annihilation.

How to use it: annihilation of someone/something (The attack caused the annihilation of the army.)

Similar words: destruction, obliteration

Common phrases: total annihilation, nuclear annihilation, annihilation of something

A condition in which something has been completely destroyed or no longer exists.

• Nothing remained after the village's annihilation.
• The story ends with the world's complete annihilation.
• The army faced total annihilation.

Similar words: nonexistence, extinction

Common phrases: complete annihilation, state of annihilation, total annihilation

A process in which a particle and its opposite particle disappear, releasing energy.

• Annihilation releases energy as radiation.
• The experiment measured electron and positron annihilation.
• Two photons emerged from the annihilation.

Common phrases: particle annihilation, electron annihilation, annihilation radiation

The destruction of something as an organized whole, even if its separate parts remain.

• The decree ordered the annihilation of the corporation.
• Its assets survived the annihilation of the company.
• The merger meant the annihilation of the old institution.

Similar words: dissolution, abolition

Common phrases: annihilation of something, corporate annihilation