INDEX:
1. to become impossible to find
2. to become impossible to see
3. to stop being heard, felt etc
4. to stop existing
RELATED WORDS
see also
↑ LEAVE
↑ SEE
↑ LOSE
↑ FIND
↑ LOOK FOR
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1. to become impossible to find
▷ disappear /ˌdɪsəˈpɪəʳ/ [intransitive verb]
if someone or something disappears, you do not know where they are and cannot find them :
▪ Where are my keys? They seem to have disappeared.
▪ By the time of the trial, the tape had mysteriously disappeared.
disappear from
▪ Thirteen-year-old Nicola disappeared from her home on Saturday night.
disappear with something
▪ When I turned round, I discovered the man had disappeared with my bag.
disappearance [uncountable noun]
▪ The mysterious disappearance of Lord Lucan has never been solved.
▷ vanish /ˈvænɪʃ/ [intransitive verb]
if someone or something vanishes, they disappear and you cannot understand what has happened to them :
▪ When she returned, her car had vanished.
vanish from
▪ Smith vanished from Heathrow Airport in 1969 and is believed to be living in Florida.
vanish into thin air
vanish quickly, leaving no sign
▪ The company that supplied the missing cargo seems to have vanished into thin air.
▷ go missing /gəʊ ˈmɪsɪŋ/ [verb phrase] British
if an object goes missing, it is no longer in the place where it should be and may have been stolen; if a person goes missing, they cannot be found, and may be in danger :
▪ Security was tightened up at the embassy after a number of important files went missing.
▪ He’s a strange man -- sometimes he goes missing for days and doesn’t tell a soul.
go missing from
▪ Stock has been going missing from the stock room, and we’re trying to find out who is responsible.
▷ disappear/vanish without trace British /without a trace American /dɪsəˌpɪəʳ, ˌvænɪʃ wɪðˌaʊt (ə) ˈtreɪs/ [verb phrase not in progressive]
disappear/vanish/sink without trace
to disappear completely without leaving any sign of what happened :
▪ A father and son have disappeared without trace while on a walking expedition in the mountains.
▪ Several aircraft and ships have vanished without trace in the notorious Bermuda Triangle.
2. to become impossible to see
▷ disappear /ˌdɪsəˈpɪəʳ/ [intransitive verb]
if someone or something disappears, you cannot see them any more :
disappear behind/under/into/over etc
▪ The sun disappeared behind a cloud.
▪ She watched the boat sail out to sea until it disappeared over the horizon.
disappear from view/sight
▪ Sheila’s car turned the corner and disappeared from view.
▷ vanish /ˈvænɪʃ/ [intransitive verb]
if someone or something vanishes, you suddenly cannot see them any more - used especially when this is unexpected or strange :
▪ The snowflakes vanished as they touched the ground.
vanish into/behind/under etc
▪ The last of the police cars sped past and vanished into the storm.
vanish from
▪ The plane vanished from radar screens soon after taking off.
▷ out of sight /aʊt əv ˈsaɪt/ [adverb]
if something or someone goes out of sight, they gradually move away from you until you cannot see them any more :
▪ Just as she went out of sight, he remembered he hadn’t given her his number.
▪ The yacht sailed away into the distance and out of sight.
▪ We watched his car as it rounded the bend and sped off out of sight.
▷ fade away /ˌfeɪd əˈweɪ/ [intransitive phrasal verb]
if a mark or light fades away, it slowly becomes less clear or less bright until you cannot see it any more :
▪ The light faded away and the tunnel became completely black.
▪ The bruises will fade away over time.
▷ blend into/blend in with /ˌblend ˈɪntuː, ˌblend ˈɪn wɪð/ [transitive verb not in passive]
if something or someone blends into the place where they are they are like it in appearance, and you cannot see them easily :
▪ These creatures can change colour in order to blend into their surroundings.
▪ Bruno was hoping to blend in with the crowd and escape unnoticed.
3. to stop being heard, felt etc
▷ disappear /ˌdɪsəˈpɪəʳ/ [intransitive verb]
if a feeling disappears, you stop feeling it :
▪ Drugs won’t make the pain disappear altogether, but they will help.
▪ Your grief won’t disappear overnight. It takes time to get over the death of someone close to you.
▷ fade away /ˌfeɪd əˈweɪ/ [intransitive phrasal verb]
if a sound, a feeling, or a memory fades away, it gradually becomes less loud, less strong, or less clear, until you cannot hear, feel, or remember it any longer :
▪ As the last notes of the song faded away, the audience began to applaud.
▪ For the first two years after the divorce, he was permanently angry, but then the anger faded away.
▪ The memory of the attack will fade away in time.
▷ wear off /ˌweər ˈɒf/ [intransitive phrasal verb]
if something, especially the effect of something, wears off, it gradually disappears :
▪ The pain got worse as the anaesthetic wore off.
▪ The effects of child abuse never wear off.
▪ Once the initial shock has worn off you’ll realize that things aren’t as bad as you first thought.
▷ go away /ˌgəʊ əˈweɪ/ [intransitive phrasal verb]
if an unpleasant feeling, situation etc goes away, it disappears, especially when you have been trying to get rid of it for a long time :
▪ I wish I could make this headache go away.
▪ His shyness soon went away when he started school.
▷ die away /ˌdaɪ əˈweɪ/ [intransitive phrasal verb]
if a sound dies away, it gradually becomes less loud and less clear until you cannot hear it any longer :
▪ The sound of his footsteps grew fainter and eventually died away.
▪ As the rhythm of the music died away, screams could be heard in the distance.
4. to stop existing
▷ disappear /ˌdɪsəˈpɪəʳ/ [intransitive verb]
if something disappears, it stops existing, and cannot be seen any more :
▪ Thousands of square miles of rainforest are disappearing each year.
▪ The dolphin has just about disappeared from the coasts of Britain.
▪ Once you start drinking too heavily, the beneficial effects of alcohol disappear.
disappearance [uncountable noun]
disappear of
▪ The increase in tourism may result in the disappearance of the islanders’ traditional way of life.
▷ vanish /ˈvænɪʃ/ [intransitive verb]
to stop existing, especially because of a sudden or quick process :
▪ All hopes of finding the boy alive have vanished.
▪ The Shatin rice fields have long vanished beneath a new town of skyscrapers and motorways.
vanish without a trace
so that nothing remains
▪ Like so many dance crazes, the "moonwalk' was popular for a while in the clubs, then vanished without a trace.
▷ become extinct /bɪˌkʌm ɪkˈstɪŋkt/ [verb phrase]
if a type of animal or plant becomes extinct, all the animals or plants of that type die, so that the type does not exist any more :
▪ Dinosaurs became extinct millions of years ago.
▪ If nothing is done to save the whales now, the species will soon become extinct.
▷ extinction /ɪkˈstɪŋkʃ ə n/ [uncountable noun]
when all the animals or plants of a particular type die, so that the type no longer exists :
▪ The Scarlet Macaw is in imminent danger of extinction.
face/be threatened with extinction
likely to soon become extinct
▪ Out of 329 parrot species, 30 now face extinction.
▪ Large numbers of rare and beautiful Alpine plants are threatened with extinction.
save something from extinction
▪ attempts to save the elephant from extinction
▷ die out /ˌdaɪ ˈaʊt/ [intransitive phrasal verb]
to gradually become rarer and then stop existing - use this about a type of animal or plant, a disease, or a custom :
▪ Diseases such as leprosy and polio have almost completely died out.
▪ The country is changing very quickly and many of the old traditions are dying out.
▪ The nearest common ancestor of man and the modern great apes died out about 30 million years ago.
▷ cease to exist /ˌsiːs tʊ ɪgˈzɪst/ [verb phrase]
to stop existing :
▪ The town which Joyce wrote about has long since ceased to exist.
▪ As of 1991, the Russian Communist Party effectively ceased to exist.