perish

[per-ish]

verb (used without object)

1. to die or be destroyed through violence, privation, etc..

   to perish in an earthquake.

   Synonyms: expire

2. to pass away or disappear.

   an age of elegance that has forever perished.

   Synonyms: vanish, molder, rot, shrivel, wither
   Antonyms: appear

3. to suffer destruction or ruin.

   His valuable paintings perished in the fire.

4. to suffer spiritual death.

   Save us, lest we perish.

perish

/ ˈpɛrɪʃ /

verb

1. to be destroyed or die, esp in an untimely way

2. (tr sometimes followed by with or from) to cause to suffer

   we were perished with cold

3. to rot

   leather perishes if exposed to bad weather

4. may it never be or happen thus

noun

1. informal,  to die or come near to dying of thirst or starvation

Other Word Forms

• perishless adjective
• perishment noun
• unperished adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of perish¹

1200–50; Middle English perissen < Old French periss-, long stem of perir < Latin perīre to perish, literally, go through, spend fully, equivalent to per- per- + īre to go

Word History and Origins

Origin of perish¹

C13: from Old French périr, from Latin perīre to pass away entirely, from _per- (away) + īre to go

Idioms and Phrases

Idioms

1. perish the thought, may it never happen: used facetiously or as an afterthought of foreboding.

More idioms and phrases containing perish

• publish or perish

Synonym Study

See die ¹.

Example Sentences

He said Farage's words had "hit hard" because his grandparents had escaped Nazi Germany and much of their family had perished in the Holocaust.

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It’s still uncertain how many of the trees it scorched will perish.

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“The children of the Earth shall perish,” Ama mutters to herself.

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Only one side of the family can remain, or both will perish from the earth.

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If that was the case, and if they miscalculated and stayed down too long, they would have run out of oxygen and perished.

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Related Words

• cease 
• crumble 
• disappear 
• disintegrate 
• pass away 
• rot 
• succumb 
• vanish 
• wither