evanesce

American  

[ev-uh-nes, ev-uh-nes] / ˌɛv əˈnɛs, ˈɛv əˌnɛs /

verb (used without object)

evanesced, evanescing

1. to disappear gradually; vanish; fade away.

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evanesce British  

/ ˌɛvəˈnɛs /

verb

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

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Other Word Forms

• evanescible
  adjective

Etymology

Origin of evanesce

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

Explanation

To evanesce is to fade slowly out of sight. When something evanesces, it disappears. Evanesce comes from a Latin term for vanishing, and that's exactly what it means. When something evanesces, it vanishes and is gone. However, this isn't a quick disappearing act; evanescing is gradual and takes a while. As you fly in a plane, the ground gradually evanesces. In a spooky movie, a ghost may slowly evanesce and fade away. A rainbow doesn't stick around for long; it eventually evanesces. Something that is prone or likely to evanesce can be called evanescent.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

evanesce evanesced evanescing

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.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 22, 2021

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.

From Washington Post ● Dec. 19, 2019

And, by the way, I think it would evanesce very completely.

From The New Yorker ● Jul. 17, 2019

The ethereal vision of Fonny wreathed in smoke isn’t only striking; it exalts this moment and communicates its evanesce, turning emotion and thought into image.

From New York Times ● Dec. 12, 2018

Just as he was about to evanesce completely, Frieda, Liz, and Betty burst in from the kitchen.

From "A Confederacy of Dunces" by John Kennedy Toole

On Thursday, it evanesced in a pinnacle of silence, which Runnicles sustained at some length before allowing in the applause.

From Washington Post ● Nov. 10, 2016

Young people flocked to Nader, and hip musicians played his rallies: The lineup in New York included Eddie Vedder, Patti Smith, and Ani DiFranco, whose ’90s cool had not yet evanesced.

From Slate ● Sep. 15, 2016

A seagoing Navy man who later spent beatnik years in New York that evanesced into hippiedom in California, Mr. Stone led an adventuresome early life that was crucial in the development of his work.

From New York Times ● Jan. 10, 2015

As bioluminescence roiled around my ankles, I waded toward a white sand shore fringed with palms to where several thatched villas set in foliage awaited, and the travails of the long odyssey effortlessly evanesced.

From New York Times ● Sep. 7, 2012

Theresa had nothing to say, not anymore; her authority had evanesced.

From "Typical American" by Gish Jen

But in the go-go '90s, the period between appearing on TV and getting a fat book deal is evanescing.

From Time Magazine Archive

Even Jack Kemp got left in the countinghouse to pine for evanescing gold.

From Time Magazine Archive

Just before sunset, from beneath a belt of clouds evanescing over the summit, an inconceivably tender, brilliant glow of rosy violet mantled downward, filling all the valley.

From The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 10, No. 62, December, 1862 by Various

These sciences reveal types of life evanescing into each other by inexpressible refinements of change.

From English Critical Essays Nineteenth Century by Jones, Edmund David

The chico, corresponding in a Spanish hotel to a piccolo in Germany or a page in England, or our own now evanescing bell-boy, was to get a peseta for bringing me the letter.

From Familiar Spanish Travels by Howells, William Dean