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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Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of perish
Their mother, Georgina, suffered complications giving birth and perished a week afterward.
—
Alexandra Jacobs, New York Times, 4 May 2025
Dozens of children tragically perish each year in cars that quickly heat up when left in the hot sun, even if the temperatures don't feel hot out.
—Jeanine Santucci, USA Today, 14 Apr. 2025
Published May 1, 1987 The new $240 million Sunshine Skyway bridge opened Thursday with a procession of cars, 2,000 yellow balloons and a memorial bouquet of 35 white carnations, one for each traveler who perished in the 1980 disaster.
—Miami Herald Archives, Miami Herald, 8 May 2025
All the fish perished, according to Meredith Hendricks, executive director of the Land Trust for Santa Barbara County, a nonprofit organization that owns and manages the preserve.
—Lila Seidman, Los Angeles Times, 22 Apr. 2025
See All Example Sentences for perish
Alexandra Jacobs, New York Times, 4 May 2025
Dozens of children tragically perish each year in cars that quickly heat up when left in the hot sun, even if the temperatures don't feel hot out.
—Jeanine Santucci, USA Today, 14 Apr. 2025
Published May 1, 1987 The new $240 million Sunshine Skyway bridge opened Thursday with a procession of cars, 2,000 yellow balloons and a memorial bouquet of 35 white carnations, one for each traveler who perished in the 1980 disaster.
—Miami Herald Archives, Miami Herald, 8 May 2025
All the fish perished, according to Meredith Hendricks, executive director of the Land Trust for Santa Barbara County, a nonprofit organization that owns and manages the preserve.
—Lila Seidman, Los Angeles Times, 22 Apr. 2025
See All Example Sentences for perish
Recent Examples of Synonyms for perish
Verb
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About 200 of those died in crashes that occurred on Chicago expressways, records show.—
Sam Charles,
Chicago Tribune,
28 May 2025
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The younger Irsay, who died last week at the age of 65, turned out to be the near opposite of his father.—
Steve Silverman,
Forbes.com,
28 May 2025
Verb
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The company suggests that AWS Transform can decompose monolithic z/OS COBOL applications into components that can be run in the cloud.—
Adrian Bridgwater,
Forbes.com,
17 May 2025
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The smell, an odor like rotten eggs, is the sargassum piles decomposing, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.—
Mitchell Willetts,
Fort Worth Star-Telegram,
30 Apr. 2025
Verb
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More: Stocks fall, Dow down 800 points as bonds tank amid tax debate.—
Riley Beggin,
USA Today,
23 May 2025
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Long-term Treasuries fell further Thursday; and yields, which trade in opposite direction to prices, continued to surge.—
David Goldman,
CNN Money,
22 May 2025
Verb
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Mohammadi works with materials that disintegrate, for instance halva, soap, letting their ephemerality echo the fragility of memory.—
Nargess Banks,
Forbes.com,
26 May 2025
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Toward the end of the movie, Bob’s house of shame disintegrates.—
Katy Waldman,
New Yorker,
24 May 2025
Verb
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The flesh was rotting off his feet, and his tendons were exposed from frostbite.—
Ginny Monk,
Hartford Courant,
26 May 2025
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Also, check for hollows in trunks that may mean the interior portion is rotting.—
Tom MacCubbin,
The Orlando Sentinel,
25 May 2025
Verb
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However, when viruses were exposed to sunlight, many of them did not survive as long, decaying in under 24 hours.—
Jack Knudson,
Discover Magazine,
13 Mar. 2025
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The result was not only environmental catastrophe but license for unchecked consumption of cheap plastic goods that can take a few minutes to use but hundreds of years to decay.—
Scott W. Stern,
The Atlantic,
10 Mar. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Perish.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/perish. Accessed 4 Jun. 2025.
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