different between efface vs annihilate

English

Etymology

From Middle French effacer (“erase”), from Old French esfacier (“remove the face”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /??fe?s/, /??fe?s/
• Rhymes: -e?s

Verb

efface (third-person singular simple present effaces, present participle effacing, simple past and past participle effaced)

1. (transitive) To erase (as anything impressed or inscribed upon a surface); to render illegible or indiscernible.
   • 1825, Walter Scott, The Talisman, A.L. Burt Company (1832?), 15:

     An outline of the same device might be traced on his shield, though many a blow had almost effaced the painting.

2. (transitive) To cause to disappear as if by rubbing out or striking out.

3. (reflexive) To make oneself inobtrusive as if due to modesty or diffidence.

4. (medicine) Of the cervix during pregnancy, to thin and stretch in preparation for labor.

Derived terms

Translations

See also

• deface

Anagrams

• Caffee

French

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /e.fas/

Noun

efface f (plural effaces)

1. (Quebec) eraser

Verb

efface

1. first-person singular present indicative of effacer
2. third-person singular present indicative of effacer
3. first-person singular present subjunctive of effacer
4. third-person singular present subjunctive of effacer
5. second-person singular imperative of effacer

Further reading

• “efface” in Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).

English

Etymology

From Latin annihil? (“I reduce to nothing”), from ad (“to”) + nihil (“nothing”).

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /??na??.le?t/

Verb

annihilate (third-person singular simple present annihilates, present participle annihilating, simple past and past participle annihilated)

1. To reduce to nothing, to destroy, to eradicate.

   An atom bomb can annihilate a whole city.

2. (particle physics) To react with antimatter, producing gamma radiation and (for higher-mass reactants, especially composite particles such as protons) lighter particles (such as pions, muons, and neutrinos).
3. (archaic) To treat as worthless, to vilify.
4. (transitive) To render null and void; to abrogate.

Synonyms

• (to reduce to nothing): benothing, destroy, eradicate, extinguish
• See also Thesaurus:destroy

Antonyms

• (to reduce to nothing): create, generate

Related terms

Translations

Further reading

• annihilate in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• annihilate in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.

Latin

Verb

annihil?te

1. second-person plural present active imperative of annihil?