annihilators
|a-nni-hi-la-tors|
🇺🇸
/əˈnaɪəˌleɪtərz/
🇬🇧
/əˈnaɪəleɪtəz/
(annihilator)
one that destroys completely
Etymology
'annihilator' ultimately comes from Latin, specifically from the verb 'annihilare', which is formed from 'ad-' (to, toward) + 'nihil' (nothing).
'annihilare' passed into Late Latin and then into Middle French and Middle English forms such as 'annihilen'/'annihilen' before becoming the modern English 'annihilate' and the agent noun 'annihilator'.
Initially it carried the sense of 'to reduce to nothing' (literally 'to make into nothing'); over time this developed into the general sense 'to destroy completely' used in modern English.
Meanings by Part of Speech
Noun 1
a person, thing, or force that destroys or defeats completely; a destroyer.
The annihilators swept through the battlefield, leaving nothing behind.
Synonyms
Antonyms
Noun 2
in mathematics (especially algebra and module theory), an element or operator that sends every element of a given set or module to zero; an operator that 'annihilates' elements.
In the course, we studied the annihilators of submodules and their properties; several annihilators were computed explicitly.
Synonyms
Last updated: 2025/08/15 22:07