annihilator

noun

an·​ni·​hi·​la·​tor ə-ˈnī-ə-ˌlā-tər How to pronounce annihilator (audio)
: a person or thing that entirely destroys a place, a group, an enemy, etc. : one that annihilates something or someone
This would subsequently interrupt the relationship between man and nature, and change the original role of man upon the Earth from the guardian of nature to the biggest annihilator of nature.The Cleveland (Tennessee) Daily Banner
… refuses to believe that her father could be what criminologists call a "family annihilator"—someone who kills their partners and children before turning their weapon on themselves.Michael E. Miller

Examples of annihilator in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web
These examples are automatically compiled from online sources to illustrate current usage. Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
The annihilator molecule will eventually emit light—but not just yet. Tracy H. Schloemer, IEEE Spectrum, 19 Sep. 2023 The process repeats itself, generating a second annihilator in the triplet excited state. Tracy H. Schloemer, IEEE Spectrum, 19 Sep. 2023 The plant uses a PFAS annihilator inside a converted cargo container that blasts the PFAS concentrate with enough heat and pressure to destroy it within seconds. Kerry Breen, CBS News, 6 July 2023 Minsky argued that economies can’t avoid these boom-bust cycles, when financiers and investors transform into economic annihilators as their frenzy of greed shifts to fear. Will Daniel, Fortune, 8 May 2023 Both at the trial and beyond, attempts were made to resolve this dissonance, mostly by fitting Murdaugh into one of various criminological categories: sociopath, narcissist, family annihilator. James Lasdun, The New Yorker, 7 Mar. 2023 What Remnick and shirt-button annihilator Lévy seem to want from the Academy is an explicit political statement. Alex Shephard, The New Republic, 3 Oct. 2022 Grogu uses the Force to destroy a Scorpenek annihilator droid and to put a Rancor beast to sleep. Zack Sharf, Variety, 16 Feb. 2022 The show mixes 66-million-year-old teeth with the latest 3-D prints of dino bones, and presents new models of T. rex as a baby, a juvenile and a full-grown annihilator. New York Times, 12 Mar. 2020

Word History

First Known Use

1666, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of annihilator was in 1666

Dictionary Entries Near annihilator

Cite this Entry

“Annihilator.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/annihilator. Accessed 6 Nov. 2024.

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