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Synonyms

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

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

I say people died when they, uh, pass away.

From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 13, 2026

“If I were to pass away tomorrow, it would be premature,” he said at the time, “but it wouldn’t be unheard of. And so, no, I don’t fear that.”

From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 9, 2026

"Mummy had been sick for a long time but nobody expected her to pass away and it all happened really quick," she said.

From BBC • Feb. 26, 2026

Another reason to pursue this strategy: When you and your wife pass away, your children will also be forced to drain inherited tax-deferred accounts within a 10-year period.

From MarketWatch • Dec. 18, 2025

He was the first of his siblings to pass away.

From "Reaching for the Moon" by Katherine Johnson

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.