- total destruction
- the act of annihilating
- the destruction of a particle and its antiparticle when they collide. The annihilation of an electron with a positron generates two or, very rarely, three photons of annihilation radiation. The annihilation of a nucleon with its antiparticle generates several pions
WordReference Random House Unabridged Dictionary of American English © 2026
an•ni•hi•la•tion
(ə nī′ə lā′shən),USA pronunciation n.
- the act or an instance of annihilating.
- the state of being annihilated;
extinction;
destruction. - Physics
- Also called pair annihilation. the process in which a particle and antiparticle unite, annihilate each other, and produce one or more photons. Cf. positronium.
- the conversion of rest mass into energy in the form of electromagnetic radiation.
- Late Latin annihilātiōn- (stem of annihilātiō). See annihilate, -ion
- French)
- (1630–40
Collins Concise English Dictionary © HarperCollins Publishers::
annihilation /əˌnaɪəˈleɪʃən/ n
'annihilation' also found in these entries (note: many are not synonyms or translations):
antiparticle
- death wish
- extinction
- positron
- positronium
- Teutoburger Wald
- abolition
- annihilation radiation
- destruction
- fana
- momentary
- nihilism
- pair annihilation
- phoenix
- wipeout
- self-annihilation