To destroy completely or reduce to nothing; to wipe out entirely.
From Latin 'annihilare' (ad- 'to' + nihil 'nothing'), meaning to reduce to nothing. The word entered English in the 16th century from Medieval Latin theological terminology.
The word literally means 'to make nothing,' and it became especially popular in religious debates about what happens to souls—theologians had to invent new words to describe concepts that had never existed before!
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