1
as in to die
to stop living
12 people perished in the plane crash
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2
as in to decompose
chiefly British
to go through decomposition
after being left out in the summer heat, the milk perished and had to be thrown out
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Recent Examples of perish
On the day of the incident, families were seen weeping and wailing as officials read off the names of the crash victims who perished at Muan International Airport, according to CNN and NBC News.
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David Chiu, People.com, 31 Dec. 2024
All but two of the 181 people on board perished in the crash, which became the deadliest air accident in South Korea’s history.
—Lisa Kailai Han, CNBC, 30 Dec. 2024
While Dowd perished under mysterious circumstances, Annie Mae persevered with just a grade-school education, pushing her three children to succeed, with Johnson’s mother and uncle earning advanced degrees from historically Black universities.
—Marc Ramirez, USA TODAY, 26 Dec. 2024
Amid ongoing wars, 104 journalists and media workers have been killed globally so far in 2024 with more than half of them perishing during the Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip, according to the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) on Tuesday.
—Joseph Epstein, Newsweek, 10 Dec. 2024
See all Example Sentences for perish 
David Chiu, People.com, 31 Dec. 2024
All but two of the 181 people on board perished in the crash, which became the deadliest air accident in South Korea’s history.
—Lisa Kailai Han, CNBC, 30 Dec. 2024
While Dowd perished under mysterious circumstances, Annie Mae persevered with just a grade-school education, pushing her three children to succeed, with Johnson’s mother and uncle earning advanced degrees from historically Black universities.
—Marc Ramirez, USA TODAY, 26 Dec. 2024
Amid ongoing wars, 104 journalists and media workers have been killed globally so far in 2024 with more than half of them perishing during the Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip, according to the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) on Tuesday.
—Joseph Epstein, Newsweek, 10 Dec. 2024
See all Example Sentences for perish
Recent Examples of Synonyms for perish
Verb
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Jeffrey Takeyama Jeffrey Takeyama, 69, died in the Palisades Fire.Minyvonne Burke, NBC News, 17 Jan. 2025
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Two other kids, Steven and Leeann, died in 2012 of lung disease and in 2022 of ALS, respectively.Chris Koseluk, The Hollywood Reporter, 16 Jan. 2025
Verb
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Park, the man who lost his brother and was speaking on behalf of other families, said Monday that more freezing containers were needed to keep the bodies from decomposing amid rising temperatures.Stella Kim, NBC News, 30 Dec. 2024
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Over the centuries, the decomposing bodies left cavities inside the hardened mineral casings.Sonja Anderson, Smithsonian Magazine, 9 Jan. 2025
Verb
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Facing the stout Penn State defense that had largely kept the passing game in check all game, Leonard threw a perfect pass to a wide-open Jaden Greathouse, who made two defenders fall en route to the end zone for the game-tying score.Adam Lichtenstein, Sun Sentinel, 10 Jan. 2025
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On paper, the movie is a very American epic—the rise and fall of a master builder, told as extravagantly as possible on 70-millimeter VistaVision, a largely obsolete film format that was predominantly used in the 1950s and ’60s.David Sims, The Atlantic, 10 Jan. 2025
Verb
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The phase transition If that wasn’t unpleasant enough for you, consider this: Perhaps the Universe will take some weird physics to the extreme and disintegrate in a flash of energy.Paul Sutter, Ars Technica, 14 Jan. 2025
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The partnership between Synapse and Evolve Bank & Trust disintegrated over a $13 million deficit in Synapse’s For Benefit Of (FBO) accounts.Zareef Hamid, Forbes, 14 Jan. 2025
Verb
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The stinging in my eyeballs from sweat and sunscreen mixes with the unmistakable smell of rotting flesh.Dac Collins, Outdoor Life, 16 Jan. 2025
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Wet, continuously soggy soils—more common in winter—can cause the bulbs to rot.Andy Wilcox, Better Homes & Gardens, 13 Jan. 2025
Verb
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What doesn’t decay this winter can be mulched up next spring.Jeff Lowenfels, Anchorage Daily News, 22 Sep. 2022
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In particular, many theorists have wondered how the great complexity of life can be reconciled with the laws of thermodynamics that suggest that all systems must inevitably decay to a state of greatest disorder.The Physics arXiv Blog, Discover Magazine, 29 Apr. 2022
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Cite this Entry
“Perish.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/perish. Accessed 21 Jan. 2025.
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