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

An ancient lake that vanished from California’s Death Valley National Park thousands of years ago has made a rare return after the area was soaked by record-setting rainfall. —Sophia Compton, FOXNews.com, 13 Dec. 2025

With a jar of mayonnaise and a cleaning cloth in hand, those water rings will vanish in as little as 15 minutes. —Brandee Gruener, Southern Living, 13 Dec. 2025

In Pottersville, hard-working immigrants like Giuseppe Martini who were able to build a life and run a business in Bedford Falls have vanished. —Nora Gilbert, The Conversation, 11 Dec. 2025

Fifty escaped; more than 250 vanished into bandit networks. —Nuri Kino, MSNBC Newsweek, 11 Dec. 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