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to reduce to utter ruin or nonexistence; destroy utterly:
The heavy bombing almost annihilated the city.
to destroy the collective existence or main body of; wipe out:
to annihilate an army.
to annul; make void:
to annihilate a law.
to cancel the effect of; nullify.
to defeat completely; vanquish:
Our basketball team annihilated the visiting team.
Contemporary Examples

“Thirty minutes alone with a man is enough for him to annihilate you,” she remarks, knowingly.
Meet The Former Call Girl Saving Hookers For Jesus Elizabeth Stoker Bruenig July 12, 2014

Finally there was the atomic bomb (and the Cold War it created): machine threatened to annihilate all of mankind.
How ‘Her’ Gets the Future Right Andrew Romano December 20, 2013

He then went on to compare us to Amalek, the Biblical nation that God commands the Jews to annihilate.
A Confession on the Ninth of Av Samuel Lebens July 14, 2013

The J in its name actually stands for Jian—annihilate, eliminate.
Beijing’s New Stealth Jet: Made in China Brendon Hong November 15, 2014

And there is no doubt that a people must defend itself against those who wish to harm it, destroy it, or annihilate it.
Iran as Haman: Jeffrey Goldberg’s Dangerous Analogy Shaul Magid February 26, 2013

Historical Examples

The Chief’s warriors would intercept, ambush and annihilate every war party headed for his camp.
Myths and Legends of the Sioux Marie L. McLaughlin

Our presence bestows not being on it: our absence does not annihilate it.
An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding David Hume

I hope Lee will make the most of his time, and annihilate their drilled and seasoned troops.
A Rebel War Clerk’s Diary at the Confederate States Capital John Beauchamp Jones

Or they may have supposed Falk had come in only to annihilate me completely.
Falk Joseph Conrad

Destroy my past, annihilate my present, dissipate my future, and then it will be permitted to me to live in obscurity!
A Winter Amid the Ice Jules Verne

verb
(transitive) to destroy completely; extinguish
(transitive) (informal) to defeat totally, as in debate or argument
(intransitive) (physics) to undergo annihilation
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.