To annihilate means to reduce something to nothing.
Annihilate is a verb that consists of reducing something to nothing . Its etymological root is found in the Latin word nihil , which, in fact, can be translated as “nothing.”
The concept, therefore, is associated with demolishing, breaking, razing, devastating or destroying .
For example : “If I win the elections and become president, I promise to annihilate drug trafficking,” “Doctors will try to annihilate cancer cells with a new treatment,” “Musicians and producers met to develop a plan that would help them.” “allows us to annihilate piracy that takes place over the Internet.”
Examples of annihilate
Depending on the context, the idea of annihilate can be used with reference to making disappear . It can be said, in this framework, that the Nazi regime sought to annihilate the Jewish community and other groups in German territory through a systematic massacre.
An attack in the context of a war may seek to annihilate the enemy . Beyond the eventual respect for laws, norms or even ethical principles, the purpose of a military offensive usually seeks to defeat the opponent, either by causing its destruction or its surrender.
Its use
As can be seen in the examples presented so far, the concept can have very different connotations, both positive and negative. While annihilating piracy is a constructive goal, killing all individuals of a particular religion or race cannot be accepted under any circumstances.
Despite the versatility of this term, which allows it to refer to almost any procedure that aims to make something, someone disappear, or put an end to a certain situation, it is not usually used in everyday speech, but is reserved for the written language.
Returning to the case of piracy, one of the biggest problems in the entertainment industry, in informal conversation it is common to say "end piracy" , instead of "annihilate" . On the other hand, this verb can appear in everyday speech if it refers to a massacre such as the one that took place during the rise of Nazism, perhaps to give the speech a more serious and respectful tone, and to emphasize suffering. of the millions of victims and their families.
Annihilate as deteriorate
Annihilation, on the other hand, can be associated with advanced deterioration : “The government is going to annihilate the nation's productive apparatus if it insists on these types of policies,” “The tax increase managed to annihilate my finances.”
This meaning is usually used in contexts such as politics and economics, since it refers to a series of negative consequences of certain government measures, or of any body with enough power to influence large groups of people and affect their welfare.
The idea of annihilating is used in the field of physics.
The notion in physics
The notion of annihilate also appears in physics . When a material particle encounters its corresponding antiparticle, the mass belonging to both is converted into other particles or energy . The process is known as annihilating and the encounter is known as particle-antiparticle annihilation .
For particle-antiparticle annihilation to take place, it is necessary that both intersect in an appropriate quantum state . In the field of quantum mechanics, the quantum state of material entities or objects is understood as the set of forms or situations that can be physically distinguished through the measurement of their properties (what is called physical state ) that they show at a given moment. .
The most common type of particle-antiparticle annihilation is the complete conversion of the mass of a positron and an electron into energy. Since the process of pair annihilation arises from electromagnetic interaction, the emission of energy always occurs as gamma rays.