perish

Pronunciation

• IPA ^(key): /ˈpɛrɪʃ/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Homophone: parish
• Hyphenation: per‧ish

Verb

Plain form perish

Third-person singular perishes

Past tense perished

Past participle perished

Present participle perishing

1. (intransitive) To perish means to die (stop living).

   The fire destroyed the building, but luckily nobody inside perished.

2. (intransitive) To perish means to stop existing.

   After new laws were created, slavery finally perished in the country.

   Her decision not to date anybody she worked with perished as soon as she met Patrick.

3. (intransitive) When something perishes, it decays and breaks apart.

   The apples perished after being left in the hot car for three days. By that time they were brown and rotten.