pass away

Idioms  

1. Also,. Die, as in He passed away last week, or After Grandma passes on we'll sell the land, or I hear he's about to pass over. All these terms are euphemisms for dying, although the verb pass alone as well as pass away have been used in the sense of “pass out of existence, die” since the 1300s. The two variants—adding on [c. 1800] and over [c. 1900]—allude to moving to some other-worldly realm.

---

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

pass away

“There’s so much life to live. We’re seeing many of our parents and our friends’ parents pass away, and it makes you realize that life can feel like a conveyor belt.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 22, 2026

"We look at all of the data we have in our telephones, CCTV, the audio. There's that wealth of documentary evidence. And of course, when you go back such a long time, witnesses pass away."

From BBC ● May 26, 2026

When his children pass away, he continues, maybe they’ll be buried on the moon, or on Mars.

From Slate ● May 8, 2026

However, I would prefer not to become a landlord, and I want to ensure that he can keep the property if I pass away.

From MarketWatch ● Apr. 18, 2026

Within a few thousand years the last, lonesome diprotodon would pass away, and with her the entire species.

From "Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind" by Yuval Noah Harari

Related Words

• die
• expire
• perish
• succumb