vanish

American  

[van-ish] / ˈvæn ɪʃ /

verb (used without object)

1. to disappear from sight, especially quickly; become invisible.

   The frost vanished when the sun came out.

   Synonyms:

   evanesce

   Antonyms:

   appear

2. to go away, especially furtively or mysteriously; disappear by quick departure.

   The thief vanished in the night.

3. to disappear by ceasing to exist; come to an end.

   The pain vanished after he took an aspirin.

4. Mathematics. (of a number, quantity, or function) to become zero.

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verb (used with object)

1. to cause to disappear.

noun

1. Phonetics. the last part of a vowel sound when it differs noticeably in quality from the main sound, as the faint (ē) at the end of the (ā) in the pronunciation of pain.

vanish British  

/ ˈvænɪʃ /

verb

1. to disappear, esp suddenly or mysteriously

2. to cease to exist; fade away

3. maths to become zero

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noun

1. rare phonetics the second and weaker of the two vowels in a falling diphthong

vanish Idioms  

1. see under into thin air.

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Related Words

See disappear.

Other Word Forms

• nonvanishing adjective
• outvanish verb (used with object)
• unvanishing adjective
• vanisher noun
• vanishingly adverb
• vanishment noun

Etymology

Origin of vanish

1275–1325; Middle English vanisshen, vanissen < Middle French evaniss-, long stem of e ( s ) vanir ≪ Latin ex- ex- ¹ + vānēscere to pass away, equivalent to vān ( us ) vain + -ēscere inchoative suffix

Explanation

A car driving into the distance, a member of a near-extinct species, or that last piece of pecan pie in the refrigerator — any of these things is likely to vanish soon, meaning "to disappear." The word vanish entered English by way of French, but it can be traced back to the Latin word evanescere, meaning to “die away” or “to dissipate.” The word covers all kinds of disappearing acts, from the disappearance of an object or a person. You might, for example, vanish from school when the last bell rings on Friday. Things we can't see can also vanish, like the stress that vanishes when your big project is complete.

Example Sentences

Another surprising result was the discovery that small pockets of CDW order can persist even above the transition temperature, where long-range order is typically expected to vanish.

From Science Daily • Apr. 28, 2026

His skepticism of “improved means to an unimproved end”—which essentially alleged that, as life got faster, it didn’t necessarily get better—resonated with laborers watching their jobs vanish in the face of industrialization.

From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 22, 2026

Ghost preparers can take a fee or a cut of a refund and then vanish.

From MarketWatch • Apr. 9, 2026

All of L.A. believed, and official L.A. passionately hoped, that once the war was over and all those smokestacks shut down, the smog would vanish too.

From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 26, 2026

But he would always vanish into the shadows before anyone could get too close.

From "The One and Only Ivan" by Katherine Applegate

Related Words

• die
• die out
• dissolve
• evaporate
• fade
• melt