perish
Meet one's end
Perish means to die or be destroyed, often violently or prematurely: Thousands perished in the earthquake.
The word carries literary or formal weight—news reports say victims perished rather than died.
Things that perish may also decay or deteriorate: The rubber gaskets had perished with age.
To perish the thought is to reject an idea as unthinkable.
Ceasing to live
- passingMoving by or temporary
- demiseCessation of existence
- expireCease to be valid
- succumbYield to pressure
decease · mortality · funeral · burial · grave · mourning · grief · loss
Organic breakdown process
- decomposeBreak into simpler parts
- spoilDamage or overindulge
- putrefyDecompose with stench
- molderGradually disintegrate from neglect
fester · deteriorate · disintegrate · crumble · wither · waste · atrophy · blight
Predetermined course of events
- inevitableCertain to occur
- inescapableImpossible to avoid
- doomedDestined for destruction
- destinedFixed by fate
condemned · sealed · foregone · inexorable · certain · unavoidable · catastrophe · apocalypse
Easily broken or harmed
- vulnerableOpen to attack
- ephemeralLasting very briefly
- frailWeak and breakable
- fleetingPassing very quickly
transient · mortal · temporary · impermanent · evanescent · short-lived · finite · precarious
At risk of extinction
- speciesFinest taxonomic rank
- dinosaurExtinct Mesozoic reptile
- extinctNo longer existing
- biodiversityRange of life forms
conservation · habitat · ecosystem · vanish · disappear · annihilation · obliteration · eradication
dying
Ceasing to live
succumb · decease · mortality · funeral · burial · grave · mourning · grief · loss · departed
rot
Organic breakdown process
molder · fester · deteriorate · disintegrate · crumble · wither · waste · atrophy · blight · corrode
fate
Predetermined course of events
- inevitableCertain to occur
- inescapableImpossible to avoid
- doomedDestined for destruction
destined · condemned · sealed · foregone · inexorable · certain · unavoidable · catastrophe · apocalypse · destruction
delicate
Easily broken or harmed
- vulnerableOpen to attack
- ephemeralLasting very briefly
- frailWeak and breakable
fleeting · transient · mortal · temporary · impermanent · evanescent · short-lived · finite · precarious · tenuous
endangered
At risk of extinction
biodiversity · conservation · habitat · ecosystem · vanish · disappear · annihilation · obliteration · eradication · lost
- mortalitydeath, death knell, deceased, death rate, death acceptance
- vanishingdisappearance, vanish, vanishing, disappear, fading
- oblivionoblivion, nothingness, nonexistence, extinction, annihilation
- waste wordsspoil, rot, decay, trash, discard
- publish or perishAcademic career dictum
- perishable goodsItems that decay quickly
perished, perishable, imperishable, perishing, perishes, perishables, nonperishable, nonperishables, non-perishable