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aniquilación

annihilation

noun ah-nee-kee-lah-SYOHN Rare
People & Society Military

Origin: Medieval Latin annihilare (to reduce to nothing), from nihil (nothing)

Also means

destruction

Usage Note

Aniquilación denotes the total destruction or elimination of something — stronger than destrucción and implying no remnant survives. In physics, aniquilación specifically describes the mutual destruction of a particle and its antiparticle (e.g. aniquilación electrón-positrón). The related verb is aniquilar; the agent noun is aniquilador. In everyday speech it can hyperbolically describe a crushing defeat.

Examples

"La aniquilación del ejército enemigo marcó el fin de la guerra."

Natural Translation

The annihilation of the enemy army marked the end of the war.

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