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 of vanish

• 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

He’s expected to be moved off their roster after vanishing amid last season’s knee rehabilitation. —Cam Inman, Mercury News, 17 Feb. 2026

On February 9, 1960, 44-year-old Adolph Coors III, the grandson of the company’s founder, vanished. —David Faris, TheWeek, 16 Feb. 2026

In the first, bells that might have been lifted from a piece of Steve Reich’s classical minimalism appear from nowhere to do their chimey dance for a few bars and then vanish. —Andy Cush, Pitchfork, 15 Feb. 2026

When a production crew arrives to film an alien invasion movie on the crumbling backlot, the janitor decides to vanish alongside the studio itself. —Naman Ramachandran, Variety, 15 Feb. 2026

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