- singular of dice.
die
1 Americanverb (used without object)
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to cease to live; undergo the complete and permanent cessation of all vital functions; become dead.
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(of something inanimate) to cease to exist.
The laughter died on his lips.
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to lose force, strength, or active qualities.
Superstitions die slowly.
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to cease to function; stop.
The motor died.
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to be no longer subject; become indifferent.
to die to worldly matters.
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to pass gradually; fade or subside gradually (usually followed by away, out, ordown ).
The storm slowly died down.
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Theology. to lose spiritual life.
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to faint or languish.
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to suffer as if fatally.
I'm dying of boredom!
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to pine with desire, love, longing, etc..
I'm dying to see my home again.
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to desire or want keenly or greatly.
I'm dying for a cup of coffee.
verb phrase
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die off to die one after another until the number is greatly reduced.
Her friends are dying off.
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die out
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to cease to exist; become extinct.
Both lines of the family died out before the turn of the century.
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to die away; fade; subside.
The roar of the engines died out as the rocket vanished into the clouds.
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die down to become calm or quiet; subside.
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die away (of a sound) to become weaker or fainter and then cease.
The hoofbeats gradually died away.
idioms
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to die for, stunning; remarkable.
That dress is to die for.
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die standing up, (of a performance) to be received with silence rather than applause.
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die hard,
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to die only after a bitter struggle.
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to give way or surrender slowly or with difficulty.
Childhood beliefs die hard.
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never say die, never give up hope; never abandon one's efforts.
noun
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dies,
plural
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dice
plural
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Machinery.
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any of various devices for cutting or forming material in a press or a stamping or forging machine.
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a hollow device of steel, often composed of several pieces to be fitted into a stock, for cutting the threads of bolts or the like.
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one of the separate pieces of such a device.
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a steel block or plate with small conical holes through which wire, plastic rods, etc., are drawn.
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an engraved stamp for impressing a design upon some softer material, as in coining money.
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singular of dice.
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Architecture. dado.
verb (used with object)
idioms
verb
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(of an organism or its cells, organs, etc) to cease all biological activity permanently
she died of pneumonia
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(of something inanimate) to cease to exist; come to an end
the memory of her will never die
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to lose strength, power, or energy, esp by degrees
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to become calm or quiet; subside
the noise slowly died down
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to stop functioning
the engine died
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to languish or pine, as with love, longing, etc
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informal (usually foll by of) to be nearly overcome (with laughter, boredom, etc)
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theol to lack spiritual life within the soul, thus separating it from God and leading to eternal punishment
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(tr) to undergo or suffer (a death of a specified kind) (esp in phrases such as die a saintly death )
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(foll by to) to become indifferent or apathetic (to)
to die to the world
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informal never give up
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to cease to exist after resistance or a struggle
old habits die hard
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to die while still working or active, prior to retirement
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to be eager or desperate (for something or to do something)
I'm dying to see the new house
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informal highly desirable
a salary to die for
noun
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a shaped block of metal or other hard material used to cut or form metal in a drop forge, press, or similar device
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a tool of metal, silicon carbide, or other hard material with a conical hole through which wires, rods, or tubes are drawn to reduce their diameter
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an internally-threaded tool for cutting external threads Compare tap 2
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a casting mould giving accurate dimensions and a good surface to the object cast See also die-cast
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architect the dado of a pedestal, usually cubic
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another name for dice
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perfectly honest
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the decision that commits a person irrevocably to an action has been taken
Usage
What is a basic definition of die? Die is a verb that means to stop living, to stop existing, or to stop functioning. Die has several other senses as a verb and a noun. When somebody dies, they are no longer alive. They have become dead. All living things will eventually die. Someone can die from disease, violence, or anything else that causes their vital organs (heart, brain, liver, kidneys, and lungs) to stop working.
- Real-life examples: Everyone who is dead has died. Plants die when they don’t get enough sunlight and water. Animals die from many of the same things as humans. Antibiotics are designed to cause disease-causing bacteria to die.
- Used in a sentence: I forgot to water my sunflower, so it died.
- Used in a sentence: My dreams of being a rock star will never die.
- Used in a sentence: I managed to upload all of my files before my laptop died.
Synonym Usage
Die, pass away ( pass on; pass ), perish mean to relinquish life. To die is to become dead from any cause and in any circumstances. It is the simplest, plainest, and most direct word for this idea, and is used figuratively of anything that has once displayed activity: An echo, flame, storm, rumor dies. Pass away (or pass on or pass ) is a commonly used euphemism implying a continuation of life after death: Grandfather passed away ( passed on or passed ). Perish, a more literary term, implies death under harsh circumstances such as hunger, cold, neglect, etc.; figuratively, perish connotes utter extinction: Hardship caused many pioneers to perish. Ancient Egyptian civilization has perished.
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of die1
First recorded in 1150–1200; Middle English dien, deien, from Old Norse deyja; cf. dead, death
Origin of die2
First recorded in 1300–50; Middle English de (in early Modern English taking the vowel of the plural form dice ), from Old French de(i), presumably from Latin datum “given” (neuter past participle of dare “to give”), perhaps in the derivative sense “put, placed,” hence “played, cast”
Explanation
Your friend would be furious if you promised you would water his plants while he was out of town, and then let his favorite fern die. To die is to expire, or to cease to be alive. The verb to die means "to stop living," and it's also used to exaggerate a need or want, like when you say, "I would die to have those shoes." When die is a noun, it means a metal-cutting tool or the single form of dice: "Hand me the die, it's my turn to roll." When you're talking about permanently staining or coloring something, you have to use the word dye.
Vocabulary lists containing die
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
Not fixing a problem until a disaster forces you to is known in the airline industry as “tombstone regulation”: They don’t change the regulations, and fix a known problem, until planes crash and people die.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 19, 2026
He joked, “They’re waiting for me to die to get the down marker.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 17, 2026
"The five years have been so gruelling that I feel like a 500-year-old woman, one who cannot die."
From Barron's ● Aug. 14, 2026
Midwife Marzia recounted watching a 45-year-old mother of six die in front of her after she travelled to the clinic from a remote district.
From BBC ● Aug. 14, 2026
The Shady Glen residents were the living waiting to die.
From "Not Nothing" by Gayle Forman
Choosing to take Social Security at 62 versus 70 is a roll of the dice.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 15, 2026
And this time the roll of the dice didn’t work, with Turkey getting its only win of the tournament on its last touch of the World Cup.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 26, 2026
Rolling a predetermined number on a dice nine times in a row, or guessing a seven-digit number first time, have odds of one in 10 million.
From BBC ● Jun. 5, 2026
Pit bosses scrambled to secure chips and dice.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 5, 2026
Likewise with dice: the probability of rolling a 7 with a pair of dice is 1/6, the same as the conditional probability of rolling a 7 given that the three previous rolls have been 7s.
From "Innumeracy: Mathematical Illiteracy and Its Consequences" by John Allen Paulos
When another friend of Antone dies, Derek becomes determined to root out ugly truths.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 19, 2026
But her journey ends in an abandoned diner, where she dies in childbirth after charging this stranger she has come to trust with the holy task of protecting her infant daughter.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 18, 2026
Every case lives or dies on its own set of circumstances.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 17, 2026
When their nanny dies suddenly, Steven posts the listing for a replacement through an au pair agency.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 14, 2026
When another prisoner dies, he switches places with the dead body and is buried at sea, after which he swims to freedom and is rescued by friendly smugglers.
From "The Long-Lost Home" by Maryrose Wood
When Jerry Buss died in 2013, he left the franchise in a trust for his children.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 19, 2026
In May, three sisters, Jane Adetoro, 36, Christina Walters, 32, and Rebecca Walters, 31, died in the sea off Brighton, in what police described as a "tragic incident".
From BBC ● Aug. 19, 2026
Ecuador's intelligence chief and five US citizens died when a tourist helicopter crashed in central Kenya on Wednesday, killing all seven people on board, officials said.
From Barron's ● Aug. 19, 2026
He’s watched movies about parents who have lost children and then kept their bedroom off-limits, preserved just as it was the day they died.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 19, 2026
He was incensed to learn that Father had died right here in Scheveningen; the documents on my case made no mention of it.
From "The Hiding Place" by Corrie ten Boom
Are you living and dieing by weather forecasts?
From Time Magazine Archive
For instance, Mr. Jones says this dieing back is due to late grafting.
From Northern Nut Growers Association, Report of the Proceedings at the Seventh Annual Meeting Washington, D. C. September 8 and 9, 1916. by Northern Nut Growers Association
The hum buggs don’t generally live a grate while at once, but have the fackulty ov dieing in one place, and being suddenly born in another.
From The Complete Works of Josh Billings by Henry W. Shaw
About the nearest tew absolute insolvency that a man kan git in this world, and think he iz dieing rich, iz to leave nothing but a pedigree tew hiz family.
From The Complete Works of Josh Billings by Henry W. Shaw
This summer, great death chanced in this land, manie dieing of the pestilence, wherewith sundrie places were infected.
From Chronicles (3 of 6): Historie of England (1 of 9) Henrie IV by Raphael Holinshed
The iconic tule elk, some of which were fenced in on the northern part of the peninsula to keep them from competing for grassland with cows, were dying off.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 16, 2026
Instead, we’ve somehow arrived at a version where Gen Z has collectively decided drinking isn’t fun anymore, bars are empty because nobody under 30 leaves the house and nightlife itself is quietly dying.
From Salon ● Aug. 15, 2026
To be eligible for assisted dying, a patient must be of legal age and a French national or a long-term resident.
From Barron's ● Aug. 14, 2026
The large study found that people who regularly climbed stairs had a substantially lower risk of dying from cardiovascular disease.
From Science Daily ● Aug. 14, 2026
How American soldiers are dying in France was told the other day by the Rev. Father F. A. Kelley, chaplain of the 27th Division, who praised warmly their devotion and courage.
From "The Brightwood Code" by Monica Hesse
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
