annihilate: [16] Annihilate comes from the past participle of the late Latin verb annihilāre, meaning literally ‘reduce to nothing’ (a formation based on the noun nihil ‘nothing’, source of English nihilism and nil). There was actually an earlier English verb, annihil, based on French annihiler, which appeared at the end of the 15th century, but it did not long survive the introduction of annihilate. => nihilism, nil
annihilate (v.)
1520s, from an obsolete adjective meaning "reduced to nothing" (late 14c.), originally the past participle of a verb, anihil, from Old French annichiler (14c.), from Late Latin annihilare "to reduce to nothing," from Latin ad- "to" (see ad-) + nihil "nothing" (see nil). Related: Annihilated; annihilating.
实用例句
1. The human race has enough weapons to annihilate itself.
人类有足够的武器灭绝自己。
来自《权威词典》
2. Such wonderful and wellestablished facts at once annihilate the theroy.
这些奇异而确定的事实即刻可以推翻这种学说.
来自辞典例句
3. An atomic bomb can annihilate a city.
一枚原子弹能毁灭一个城市.
来自辞典例句
4. I wished to annihilate the tedious intervening days!
我多么希望那些无聊的时光快快消逝啊!
来自辞典例句
5. A real or virtual photon may spontaneously annihilate.