This verb means to burn to ashes or reduce completely by fire. In 2 Peter 2:6, Peter describes God 'reducing the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah to ashes' as an example of judgment. The term emphasizes total destruction—not just burning but complete incineration to ash. Classical usage included literal burning and metaphorical covering with ashes. The cross-linguistic evidence shows varied expressions of complete burning: Spanish 'reducido a cenizas' (reduced to ashes), German 'zu Asche machen' (make to ash). This is annihilating judgment.