1
as in to die
to stop living
12 people perished in the plane crash
Synonyms & Similar Words
Relevance
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
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
Synonyms & Similar Words
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Example Sentences
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to
show current usage.
Read More
Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors.
Send us feedback.
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
-
About 1,600 people get sick and 260 die each year from listeriosis, according to the CDC.—
Mike Snider,
USA Today,
17 May 2025
-
Eight-year-old Alanah Phillips and her 4-year-old brother Zayn Phillips died after Chidester drove her car into a child's party at the private Swan Boat Club on April 20, 2024.—
Gabrielle Rockson,
People.com,
16 May 2025
Verb
-
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
-
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
-
More: Stocks fall, Dow down 800 points as bonds tank amid tax debate.—
Riley Beggin,
USA Today,
23 May 2025
-
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
-
Join 13 others in the comments View Comments Though defunct objects in space routinely fall out of orbit, most pieces of debris disintegrate entirely during the reentry process.—
Jackie Wattles,
CNN Money,
9 May 2025
-
The altitudes at which satellites disintegrate are too high for meteorological balloons to reach but too low for satellites to sample.—
Tereza Pultarova,
Space.com,
5 May 2025
Verb
-
Watering them during this time can cause the bulbs to rot, especially in warm, humid conditions.—
Leanne Potts,
Better Homes & Gardens,
15 May 2025
-
The rotting teeth of our children because of this fluoride ban is a metaphor for the rot in our government.—
Sun Sentinel Editorial Board,
Sun Sentinel,
15 May 2025
Verb
-
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
-
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 27 May. 2025.
Copy CitationLove words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
Share