die-off

[dahy-awf, -of]

noun

1. a sudden, natural perishing of large numbers of a species, population, or community.

die-off

1. A sudden, severe decline in a population or community of organisms as a result of natural causes. Local die-offs can be caused by such factors as an unusual or extreme weather pattern, an outbreak of disease, or toxic algal blooms in a body of water. Widespread or global die-offs in which a species or group of species becomes extinct are generally associated with rapid climate change or other large-scale environmental dislocations.

Word History and Origins

Origin of die-off¹

First recorded in 1935–40; noun use of verb phrase die off

Idioms and Phrases

Perish one by one, as in A celibate community, the Shakers are dying off. [Late 1600s]

Example Sentences

Earlier this year, scientists warned that bird flu had sparked the worst die-off on record for southern elephant seals when it spread among a population on Argentina's coast in 2023.

Read more on Barron's

Mass coral die-off is underway and, unless global warming is reversed, large reef systems as we know them will disappear.

Read more on Science Daily

But the whelk is a cold-water species, and a marine heatwave in 2022 triggered a mass die-off of these snails in the Thames Estuary.

Read more on BBC

He’s talking about the failure to recognize the consequences of climate change manifesting in the surrounding wetlands’ die-off.

Read more on Salon

The team also showed that decayed elephant carcasses were more spread out across the landscape than fresh carcasses, indicating that the die-off in 2020 was different from typical elephant mortality patterns.

Read more on Science Daily

Related Words

• abate 
• decrease 
• diminish 
• dwindle 
• ebb 
• fade 
• fall back 
• lessen 
• reduce 
• retreat 
• shrink 
• sink 
• subside 
• taper 
• wane