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

For decades Shtok was known as the great disappearing act of Yiddish literature—a modernist story writer who blazed bright in the 1920s before vanishing from the literary scene and, it was assumed, dying young. —Literary Hub, 22 Jan. 2026

Annabeth and Grover tell Percy that Chiron has returned, Luke has vanished, and the monsters and rebels have been driven away from the camp. —Monica Mercuri, Forbes.com, 21 Jan. 2026

Even worse, amid the endless barrage of newness, our tolerance for sitting with work that may surprise or challenge us, confound and move us, weakens—or vanishes entirely. —Brady Brickner-Wood, New Yorker, 21 Jan. 2026

Tareck El Aissami, once the regime’s top power broker and a man long accused by Washington of narcotics trafficking, had vanished from public view. —Antonio María Delgado, Miami Herald, 21 Jan. 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