annexation

noun

an·​nex·​a·​tion ˌa-ˌnek-ˈsā-shən 

plural annexations

1

: the act of annexing something or the state of being annexed : the addition of an area or region to a country, state, etc.

The Senate rejected the Hawaiian reciprocity treaty, the purchase of the Virgin Islands from Denmark, the annexation of Santo Domingo and the annexation of Samoa.

—Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr.

In the early part of the 20th century, Chinese writers generally dated the annexation of Tibet to the 18th century.

—Elliot Sperling

2

: something that is annexed

… defended their annexations with fire and sword.

—George Bernard Shaw

annexational

ˌa-ˌnek-ˈsā-sh(ə-)nəl 

adjective

annexationist

ˌa-ˌnek-ˈsā-sh(ə-)nist 

noun

Examples of annexation in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

If the far right wins out, as currently seems likely, Israel will continue to dispossess Palestinians from large swaths of the West Bank and build more settlements, pushing forward with the piecemeal annexation that Smotrich has spearheaded. —Mairav Zonszein, Foreign Affairs, 15 Oct. 2024

Netanyahu’s strategy, if that’s the word for it, is de-facto annexation under an umbrella of deterrence. —Bernard Avishai, The New Yorker, 8 Oct. 2024

Young Army was established two years after the 2014 annexation of Crimea, when Putin’s Kremlin had already begun its totalitarian turn. —Andrei Kolesnikov, Foreign Affairs, 15 Oct. 2024

Another youth group, the Volunteers of Victory, was established by the Russian state in 2015 and has a similar tie-in to Ukraine, as it was launched shortly after the annexation of Crimea in 2014. —Julia Khrebtan-Hörhager, The Conversation, 2 Oct. 2024

Word History

First Known Use

15th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1