evanesce

[ev-uh-nes, ev-uh-nes]

verb (used without object)

evanesced, evanescing 

1. to disappear gradually; vanish; fade away.

evanesce

/ ˌɛvəˈnɛs /

verb

1. (intr) (of smoke, mist, etc) to fade gradually from sight; vanish

Other Word Forms

• evanescible adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of evanesce¹

First recorded in 1815–25; from Latin ēvānēscere “to disappear, vanish”; vanish

Word History and Origins

Origin of evanesce¹

C19: from Latin ēvānēscere to disappear; see _vanish

Example Sentences

These feature watery pools of color that seem to evanesce into nothing, topped by the hard geometries of Gray’s rug patterns, which are rendered in hand-stitched embroidery.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

His later “wedge” sculptures, slender prisms of color that can reach heights of 8 feet, seemed to evanesce into transparent nothingness at the top.

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In the handful of works by Vuillard, both the abstract patterning and the absence of modeling cause the borders between the picture’s separate elements to evanesce.

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Grapple with it, and it evanesces like smoke clutched in a mailed fist.

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It was as if Buddhism evanesced the same way that its master teacher did.

Read more on The New Yorker