as in dying
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1
as in falling
to stop living
12 people perished in the plane crash
Synonyms & Similar Words
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in decaying
chiefly British
to go through decomposition
after being left out in the summer heat, the milk perished and had to be thrown out
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
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Recent Examples of perishing
Lea Veloso, StyleCaster, 26 Dec. 2025
Many researchers also hypothesize that aviation trailblazer Earhart did not crash her plane at sea, but instead landed and was stranded on Nikumaroro Island, later perishing there.
—Ashley J. Dimella, FOXNews.com, 10 Dec. 2025
Bohlin said that the Swedish Board of Agriculture would procure emergency stockpiling of grain in northern Sweden, which would be circulated so as not to disrupt market mechanisms and to avoid stocks perishing.
—Brendan Cole, MSNBC Newsweek, 16 Oct. 2025
The boys didn't always survive their adventures, with one perishing from a snake bite and another drowning in a Bolivian flood.
—ArsTechnica, 17 Sep. 2025
Verb
The goo stops them from perishing, and the two embrace in a hug.
—Lea Veloso, StyleCaster, 26 Dec. 2025
Many researchers also hypothesize that aviation trailblazer Earhart did not crash her plane at sea, but instead landed and was stranded on Nikumaroro Island, later perishing there.
—Ashley J. Dimella, FOXNews.com, 10 Dec. 2025
Bohlin said that the Swedish Board of Agriculture would procure emergency stockpiling of grain in northern Sweden, which would be circulated so as not to disrupt market mechanisms and to avoid stocks perishing.
—Brendan Cole, MSNBC Newsweek, 16 Oct. 2025
The boys didn't always survive their adventures, with one perishing from a snake bite and another drowning in a Bolivian flood.
—ArsTechnica, 17 Sep. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for perishing
Noun
-
In addition to bringing medical care to remote mountain villages half a world away, Halifax has ministered to the dying in hospice, worked with the homeless in New Mexico, cared for prisoners on death row, and led countless protests for peace.—
Michael Pollan,
The Atlantic,
26 Jan. 2026
-
Jill’s mission is to ease the passage of the dying into being dead, even people like Boone, who have worked to suppress the development and dissemination of climate change science, leading to a likely environmental apocalypse.—
John Warner,
Chicago Tribune,
24 Jan. 2026
Verb
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Two months later, the appointment of another nominee, Keith Fountain, failed in a 5-4 decision of the Board of Directors, falling one short of the six votes necessary to confirm him.—
Joseph Flaherty,
Arkansas Online,
11 Feb. 2026
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Try to find a place that will block blowing or falling debris.—
CA Weather Bot,
Sacbee.com,
10 Feb. 2026
Verb
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Sporotrichosis is a fungal infection of the skin caused by exposure to a fungus that lives in soil, plants, decaying vegetation, moss and hay.—
Leslie Baumann,
Miami Herald,
13 Feb. 2026
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When Qualls saw the building again on a cool day last month, the renovation was a night-and-day transformation from the decaying structure that had sat vacant for several decades, its roof near collapsing.—
Dallas Morning News,
Dallas Morning News,
11 Feb. 2026
Noun
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Through Van Der Beek’s wistful performance, viewers were given a window through which to grapple with betrayal, death, heartbreak and a litany of bad decisions.—
Los Angeles Times,
Los Angeles Times,
12 Feb. 2026
-
Little has been released about the shooting from the Alameda County Sheriff’s Office, which did not publicly acknowledge the killing for more than 12 hours after Anthony Anderson’s death.—
Jakob Rodgers,
Mercury News,
11 Feb. 2026
Verb
-
The fruit can have a little give, but a very soft lemon is overripe or rotting.—
Brandee Gruener,
Southern Living,
3 Feb. 2026
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The conservancy's plan to shoot the deer from the air, using helicopters, was shut down in 2024 after residents voiced concerns of bullets raining down and rotting deer carcasses that would be left behind.—
Julie Sharp,
CBS News,
2 Feb. 2026
Verb
-
This vacuum was meant to prevent the tungsten filament––that’s the little wire inside the bulb, the thing that glows––from burning up and disintegrating immediately, which is what a very hot piece of metal would do in the presence of oxygen.—
Natalia Sánchez Loayza,
Scientific American,
5 Feb. 2026
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As in a seventeenth-century poem by John Donne, George Herbert, or Andrew Marvell, the fraught human body is a microcosm, a mirror to the larger disintegrating world spirit.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
29 Jan. 2026
Noun
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McDonald died of a heart attack in 2017, with the city’s medical examiner ruling his death a homicide, stating his demise was caused by complications from the 1986 shooting.—
Barry Williams,
New York Daily News,
10 Feb. 2026
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In a league where everyone is constantly predicting the demise of the running back position, Walker is proof that the old ways still work.—
Kyle Feldscher,
CNN Money,
9 Feb. 2026
Verb
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Funk assures that the softened, decomposing cardboard will allow plants to grow through.—
Patricia Shannon,
Southern Living,
9 Feb. 2026
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Jon Hallford, a southern Colorado funeral home owner who stashed nearly 200 decomposing bodies and gave families fake ashes, was sentenced on state charges on Friday.—
Maria Braganini,
CBS News,
6 Feb. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Perishing.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/perishing. Accessed 15 Feb. 2026.
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