diff --git a/src/calibre/db/backend.py b/src/calibre/db/backend.py
index b9ca4818a0..413696fa05 100644
--- a/src/calibre/db/backend.py
+++ b/src/calibre/db/backend.py
@@ -1834,6 +1834,31 @@ class DB(object):
             if not ignore_removed or not annot.get('removed'):
                 yield {'format': fmt, 'user_type': user_type, 'user': user, 'annotation': annot}
 
+    def delete_annotations(self, annot_ids):
+        from calibre.utils.date import utcnow
+        replacements = []
+        removals = []
+        for annot_id in annot_ids:
+            for (raw_annot_data, annot_type) in self.execute(
+                'SELECT annot_data, annot_type FROM annotations WHERE id=?', (annot_id,)
+            ):
+                try:
+                    annot_data = json.loads(raw_annot_data)
+                except Exception:
+                    removals.append((annot_id,))
+                    continue
+                new_annot = {'removed': True, 'timestamp': utcnow().isoformat(), 'type': annot_type}
+                uuid = annot_data.get('uuid')
+                if uuid is not None:
+                    new_annot['uuid'] = uuid
+                else:
+                    new_annot['title'] = annot_data['title']
+                replacements.append((json.dumps(new_annot), annot_id))
+        if replacements:
+            self.executemany('UPDATE annotations SET annot_data=?, searchable_text="" WHERE id=?', replacements)
+        if removals:
+            self.executemany('DELETE FROM annotations WHERE id=?', removals)
+
     def all_annotations(self, restrict_to_user=None, limit=None, annotation_type=None, ignore_removed=False):
         ls = json.loads
         q = 'SELECT id, book, format, user_type, user, annot_data FROM annotations'
diff --git a/src/calibre/db/cache.py b/src/calibre/db/cache.py
index 4fd5be0033..0d7f098227 100644
--- a/src/calibre/db/cache.py
+++ b/src/calibre/db/cache.py
@@ -2333,6 +2333,10 @@ class Cache(object):
             ignore_removed
         ))
 
+    @write_api
+    def delete_annotations(self, annot_ids):
+        self.backend.delete_annotations(annot_ids)
+
     @write_api
     def restore_annotations(self, book_id, annotations):
         from calibre.utils.iso8601 import parse_iso8601
diff --git a/src/calibre/gui2/library/annotations.py b/src/calibre/gui2/library/annotations.py
index 7b993a2b8b..a88f1a6a59 100644
--- a/src/calibre/gui2/library/annotations.py
+++ b/src/calibre/gui2/library/annotations.py
@@ -13,7 +13,7 @@ from PyQt5.Qt import (
 
 from calibre import prepare_string_for_xml
 from calibre.ebooks.metadata import authors_to_string, fmt_sidx
-from calibre.gui2 import Application, config, gprefs
+from calibre.gui2 import Application, config, error_dialog, gprefs, question_dialog
 from calibre.gui2.viewer.widgets import ResultsDelegate, SearchBox
 from calibre.gui2.widgets2 import Dialog
 
@@ -76,6 +76,7 @@ class ResultsList(QTreeWidget):
     def __init__(self, parent):
         QTreeWidget.__init__(self, parent)
         self.setHeaderHidden(True)
+        self.setSelectionMode(self.ExtendedSelection)
         self.delegate = AnnotsResultsDelegate(self)
         self.setItemDelegate(self.delegate)
         self.section_font = QFont(self.font())
@@ -145,6 +146,11 @@ class ResultsList(QTreeWidget):
             return
         return QTreeWidget.keyPressEvent(self, ev)
 
+    @property
+    def selected_annot_ids(self):
+        for item in self.selectedItems():
+            yield item.data(0, Qt.UserRole)['id']
+
 
 class Restrictions(QWidget):
 
@@ -310,12 +316,20 @@ class BrowsePanel(QWidget):
     def effective_query_changed(self):
         self.do_find()
 
+    def refresh(self):
+        self.current_query = None
+        self.do_find()
+
     def show_next(self):
         self.do_find()
 
     def show_previous(self):
         self.do_find(backwards=True)
 
+    @property
+    def selected_annot_ids(self):
+        return self.results_list.selected_annot_ids
+
 
 class Details(QTextBrowser):
 
@@ -486,9 +500,28 @@ class AnnotationsBrowser(Dialog):
         h = QHBoxLayout()
         l.addLayout(h)
         h.addWidget(us), h.addStretch(10), h.addWidget(self.bb)
+        self.delete_button = b = self.bb.addButton(_('Delete selected'), self.bb.ActionRole)
+        b.setToolTip(_('Delete the selected annotations'))
+        b.setIcon(QIcon(I('trash.png')))
+        b.clicked.connect(self.delete_selected)
+
+    def delete_selected(self):
+        ids = frozenset(self.browse_panel.selected_annot_ids)
+        if not ids:
+            return error_dialog(self, _('No selected annotations'), _(
+                'No annotations have been selected'), show=True)
+        if question_dialog(self, _('Are you sure?'), ngettext(
+            'Are you sure you want to <b>permanently</b> delete this annotation?',
+            'Are you sure you want to <b>permanently</b> delete these {} annotations?',
+            len(ids)).format(len(ids))
+        ):
+            db = current_db()
+            db.delete_annotations(ids)
+            self.browse_panel.refresh()
 
     def show_dialog(self):
         if self.parent() is None:
+            self.browse_panel.effective_query_changed()
             self.exec_()
         else:
             self.reinitialize()