Annihilationism, the theory of the utter extinction of man's being, both bodily and spiritual, either at death or at some later period. Archbishop Whately says that in the passages in
Scripture in which 'death,' 'destruction,' 'eternal death,' are mentioned, the words may be taken as signifying literal death, real destruction, the utter end of things. Of late those who hold to this theory have adopted the term 'conditional immortality.'
Entry from Everybody's Cyclopedia,
1912.