vanishing point

American  

noun

1. a point of disappearance, cessation, or extinction.

   His patience had reached the vanishing point.

2. (in the study of perspective in art) that point toward which receding parallel lines appear to converge.

---

vanishing point British  

noun

1. the point to which parallel lines appear to converge in the rendering of perspective, usually on the horizon

2. a point in space or time at or beyond which something disappears or ceases to exist

---

Etymology

Origin of vanishing point

First recorded in 1790–1800

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

vanishing point

“Pass-Thru” culminates in his darkest sequence, with Thgil — another of the messianic aliens in which Breen specializes — walking toward the horizon’s vanishing point.

From New York Times ● Aug. 7, 2023

“The vanishing point corresponding to parallel lines on the screen, price, and ‘Don’t blame…’ text are inconsistent,” Farid wrote.

From Seattle Times ● Jun. 3, 2022

“Part ode and part elegy to Octavia Butler’s unfinished ‘Parable’ trilogy, this exhibition investigates the vanishing point of an idea,” writes LACE.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 13, 2021

Yet after decades of dominating ideas about how a writer should live and work, Hemingway feels increasingly irrelevant today, his influence diminished to a vanishing point, his reputation corroded by a dated personal mythos.

From Slate ● Apr. 5, 2021

This would later be called the centric point, and it is the spot where the vanishing point is placed in a vanishing-point construction.

From "The Invention of Science" by David Wootton