vanish

verb

van·​ish ˈva-nish 

vanished; vanishing; vanishes

intransitive verb

1

a

: to pass quickly from sight : disappear

b

: to pass completely from existence

2

: to assume the value zero

transitive verb

: to cause to disappear

vanisher noun

Synonyms

• disappear
• fade

Examples of vanish in a Sentence

The missing girl vanished without a trace a year ago.

The papers seem to have vanished into thin air.

Dinosaurs vanished from the face of the earth millions of years ago.

Recent Examples on the Web

After Sade arrives at the prestigious Alfred Nobel Academy, the school year takes a turn when her roommate vanishes and another student winds up dead — putting Sade and her roommate’s friend, Baz, on the case. —Carly Tagen-Dye, PEOPLE, 27 Sep. 2025

Green sickness has completely vanished. —Matthew Wills, JSTOR Daily, 27 Sep. 2025

This week, Jimmy Kimmel returned, a weird statue vanished and no one (to our knowledge) got snatched up to heaven. —Holly J. Morris, NPR, 26 Sep. 2025

Outside of these moments, the audience scatters, the conversation splinters, and the mirage vanishes. —Nicholas Quah, Vulture, 25 Sep. 2025

Word History

Etymology

Middle English vanisshen, borrowed from Anglo-French vaniss- stem of vanir, envanir, esvanir, going back to Vulgar Latin *exvānīre, restructuring of Latin ēvānēscere "to fade away, disappear," from ē- e- entry 1 + vānēscere "to pass from existence," inchoative verb derivative of vānus "empty, lacking content" — more at wane entry 1

First Known Use

14th century, in the meaning defined at intransitive sense 1a

Phrases Containing vanish

• disappear/vanish into thin air

Rhymes for vanish

• banish
• clannish
• mannish
• spanish

Kids Definition

vanish

verb

van·​ish ˈvan-ish 

: to pass from sight or existence

vanisher noun