Definition

1. Verb:

   • To attach or add something, especially to a larger or more important thing: This is the core meaning, often used in formal, legal, or administrative contexts to indicate joining one thing to another.
   • To incorporate territory into the domain of a country or state: A specific geopolitical meaning, referring to the act of taking control of land, often by force or assertion of authority.

2. Noun:

   • An addition to a building: A structure that is attached to or situated near a main building, providing extra space.
   • A supplementary document or section added to a text: An addition to a main document, such as a treaty, report, or book, containing related but separate information.

Usage Examples

• Verb:
  • The company plans to annex the smaller startup to expand its technology portfolio.
  • In 1938, Nazi Germany moved to annex the Sudetenland region of Czechoslovakia.
• Noun:
  • The new library annex will house the rare book collection.
  • Please see the data tables in Annex A of the report.

Advanced Usage

• "to annex something to something": This prepositional structure is common when specifying what is being attached and to what.
  • The treaty annexed the island to the coastal nation's territory.
• Used in passive voice to describe the state of being incorporated.
  • The province was annexed over a century ago.

Variants and Related Words

• Annexation (n): The action of annexing something, especially territory.
  • The annexation of Crimea was a major international event.
• Annexe (n): An alternative British English spelling for the noun form, meaning an addition to a building.
  • The meeting will be held in the conference annexe.

Synonyms

• Verb (attach): Append, add, attach, join.
• Verb (take territory): Appropriate, seize, occupy, conquer.
• Noun (building): Extension, wing, addition, outbuilding.
• Noun (document): Appendix, supplement, addendum.

Related Phrasal Verbs

(Note: "Annex" is not commonly used in phrasal verb constructions. Its meanings are typically expressed directly.)

Related Idioms

(Note: There are no common idioms centered on the word "annex." Its usage is primarily literal and formal.)

Noun

1. an addition that extends a main building

Verb

1. attach to
2. take (territory) as if by conquest
   • Hitler annexed Lithuania