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.

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

pass away

Nick Hitchon died from cancer in 2023, becoming the second member of the cast to pass away after Lynn Johnson 10 years earlier.

From BBC ● Sep. 12, 2026

There was a moment last season when Roberto de Zerbi turned to his Tottenham players and asked: "Did we pass away?"

From BBC ● Aug. 5, 2026

They’re also in line to inherit a great deal of money in the coming years as older generations pass away, he noted.

From MarketWatch ● Jul. 6, 2026

Then James threw a pass away that bounced off two Thunder defenders and Reaves, with the officials ruling it was still the Lakers’ possession.

From Los Angeles Times ● May 12, 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