Meaning & use
annihilationism
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Meaning
noununcountablereligiontechnical
The belief that people who reject God are destroyed completely after death, rather than suffering forever.
Grammar: No plural and no article is needed: annihilationism is debated.
Patterns
- the doctrine of annihilationism
Annihilationism has gained supporters among some modern evangelical writers.
The lecture compared annihilationism with the traditional teaching on hell.
He wrote a book defending annihilationism against its critics.
Common combinations
- defend annihilationism
- The author defends annihilationism in her new essay.
- reject annihilationism
- Many churches reject annihilationism as unbiblical.
- conditional immortality and annihilationism
- Some scholars use conditional immortality and annihilationism as nearly the same idea.
- the doctrine of annihilationism
- The council debated the doctrine of annihilationism for weeks.
Synonyms and how they differ
- conditionalism
- Conditionalism, or conditional immortality, stresses that eternal life is a gift given only to some, while annihilationism stresses the final destruction of the others.
- extinctionism
- Extinctionism is a rarer name for the same idea, and few writers use it.
Opposites
Word family
- annihilate verb
- to destroy completely
- annihilation noun
- complete destruction
- annihilationist noun
- a person who holds this belief
- annihilator noun
- one that destroys completely
Practice
A theologian who teaches that the unsaved simply cease to exist is arguing for ___.
Choose one answer.
Annihilationism is the belief that the unsaved are completely destroyed. Universalism holds that everyone is saved, so it is the opposite of the idea described.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “annihilationism”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.