Synonyms for perish
ˈpɛr ɪʃper·ish

WiktionaryRate these synonyms:4.5 / 2 votes

1. perishverb

   Synonyms:
   pass away, decease

2. perishverb

   To pass away; to come to naught; to waste away; to decay and disappear.

   Synonyms:
   decease, pass away

3. perishverb

   To die; to cease to live.

   Synonyms:
   decease, pass away

English Synonyms and AntonymsRate these synonyms:4.3 / 4 votes

1. perish

   Die, to go out of life, become destitute of vital power and action, is figuratively applied to anything which has the appearance of life.

   Where the dying night-lamp flickers.

   Tennyson Locksley Hall st. 40.

   An echo, a strain of music, a tempest, a topic, an issue, dies. Expire (literally, to breathe out) is a softer word for die; it is used figuratively of things that cease to exist by reaching a natural limit; as, a lease expires; the time has expired. To perish (literally, in Latin, to go through, as in English we say, "the fire goes out") is oftenest used of death by privation or exposure; as, "I perish with hunger," Luke xv, 17; sometimes, of death by violence. Knowledge and fame, art and empires, may be said to perish; the word denotes utter destruction and decay.

   Synonyms:
   cease, decease, decline, depart, die, expire, fade, wither

   Antonyms:
   be born, be immortal, begin, come into being, come to life, exist, flourish, grow, live, rise again, rise from the dead, survive

   Preposition:
   To die of fever; by violence; rarely, with the sword, famine, etc. (Ezek. vii, 15); to die for one's country; to die at sea; in one's bed; in agony; die to the world.

Complete Dictionary of Synonyms and AntonymsRate these synonyms:0.0 / 0 votes

1. perish

   Synonyms:
   decay, waste away, be ruined, be destroyed, die, expire, fade away

Princeton's WordNetRate these synonyms:3.0 / 3 votes

1. die, decease, perish, go, exit, pass away, expire, pass, kick the bucket, cash in one's chips, buy the farm, conk, give-up the ghost, drop dead, pop off, choke, croak, snuff itverb

   pass from physical life and lose all bodily attributes and functions necessary to sustain life

   "She died from cancer"; "The children perished in the fire"; "The patient went peacefully"; "The old guy kicked the bucket at the age of 102"

   Synonyms:
   fall, function, come about, murmur, give way, elapse, hold out, pass out, run, go past, lead, top, give out, put across, go by, devolve, conk out, operate, cronk, travel, occur, last, die, scrag, fade, go away, excrete, reach, go, move, spend, rifle, slide by, asphyxiate, foul, breathe out, turn over, run low, die out, plump, legislate, happen, egest, fret, authorise, exceed, fleet, pass away, get out, drop dead, overstep, endure, give, draw, make it, congest, blend in, run short, pop off, get going, locomote, back up, choke off, expire, make pass, suffocate, grumble, slip away, authorize, live, return, cash in one's chips, kick the bucket, blend, go out, fail, fall out, hap, slip by, go on, sink, eliminate, lapse, belong, mutter, clog, pass off, give-up the ghost, go bad, become flat, survive, blow over, get, take place, gag, snuff it, overhaul, throttle, become, go through, evanesce, live on, communicate, hand, croak, clog up, run out, choke, swoon, fit, go across, sound, overtake, transcend, glide by, gnarl, exhale, extend, start, depart, decease, faint, stifle, pall, pass, proceed, break down, clear, exit, conk, stall, travel by, buy the farm, hold up, pass along, break, go along, surpass, guide, pass by, leave, strangle, work, pass on

Matched Categories

1. • Change State

Dictionary of English SynonymesRate these synonyms:0.0 / 0 votes

1. perishverb

   Synonyms:
   decay, waste, wither, pass away, be destroyed, be ruined, be lost, come to nought, go to destruction

2. perishverb

   Synonyms:
   die, expire, decease, cease to exist

PPDB, the paraphrase databaseRate these paraphrases:0.0 / 0 votes

1. List of paraphrases for "perish":

   die

How to pronounce perish?

How to say perish in sign language?

Usage in printed sourcesFrom: 

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Words popularity by usage frequency

How to use perish in a sentence?

1. Thomas Brooks (1608-1680):

   Christ is a most precious commodity, he is better than rubies or the most costly pearls; and we must part with our old gold, with our shining gold, our old sins, our most shining sins, or we must perish forever. Christ is to be sought and bought with any pains, at any price; we can not buy this gold too dear. He is a jewel more worth than a thousand worlds, as all know who have him. Get him, and get all; miss him and miss all.

2. Ayn Rand, Atlas Shrugged:

   Do not let your fire go out, spark by irreplacable spark. In the hopeless swamps of the not quite, the not yet, and the not at all, do not let the hero in your soul perish and leave only frustration for the life you deserved, but never have been able to reach. The world you desire can be won, it exists, it is real, it is possible, it is yours.

3. H. G. Wells:

   Adapt or perish, now as ever, is nature's inexorable imperative.

4. Samuel Butler:

   Logic is like the sword: those who appeal to it shall perish by it.

5. Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum:

   With each new day in Africa, a gazelle wakes up knowing he must outrun the fastest lion or perish. At the same time, a lion stirs and stretches, knowing he must outrun the fastest gazelle or starve. It is no different for the human race. Whether you consider yourself a gazelle or a lion, you simply have to run faster than others to survive.