perish
Americanverb (used without object)
-
to die or be destroyed through violence, privation, etc..
to perish in an earthquake.
- Synonyms:
- expire
-
to pass away or disappear.
an age of elegance that has forever perished.
- Antonyms:
- appear
-
to suffer destruction or ruin.
His valuable paintings perished in the fire.
-
to suffer spiritual death.
Save us, lest we perish.
idioms
verb
-
to be destroyed or die, esp in an untimely way
-
(tr sometimes followed by with or from) to cause to suffer
we were perished with cold
-
to rot
leather perishes if exposed to bad weather
-
may it never be or happen thus
noun
Related Words
See die 1.
Other Word Forms
- perishless adjective
- perishment noun
- unperished adjective
Etymology
Origin of perish
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
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.
She tries to create the most outlandish tale possible for when relaying to guests one on one how her husband perished.
From Los Angeles Times
The man who might have been a bigamist, who might have had two sons perish as part of the Forty-Eighth.
From Literature
Sri Lanka is repatriating on Friday the remains of 84 Iranian sailors who perished when their frigate was sunk nine days ago by a US submarine, the Foreign Ministry said.
From Barron's
In Argentina, roughly 1,300 sea lions and fur seals perished.
From Los Angeles Times
Mark Davis was just 13 years old when he perished in a juvenile detention facility for Black boys in the eastern US state of Maryland some 140 years ago.
From Barron's
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.
