# vanish

Pronunciation: US say "VAN-ish" /ˈvænɪʃ/; UK

## Verb

1. To pass out of sight or cease to be visible, often suddenly or without being noticed.
   - Simple: To go away suddenly so that you can no longer be seen.
   - _The hikers watched the path vanish beneath the drifting snow._
   - _By dawn the morning mist had vanished from the valley._
4. To cause someone to disappear, especially by abducting or secretly removing them.
   - Simple: To make a person disappear, often by taking them away by force.
   - _The secret police vanished journalists who exposed corruption._
   - _They threatened to vanish him if he testified._
5. Of a mathematical quantity or function, to become equal to zero.
   - Simple: To become zero, with no amount or value left.
   - _The function vanishes at the origin and grows steadily on either side._
   - _Substitute zero for the variable and the second term will vanish completely._

## Noun

2. A magic trick in which an object appears to disappear from view.
   - Simple: A magic trick where something seems to disappear right in front of you.
   - _The performer's vanish fooled even the magicians in the front row._
   - _A well-timed vanish depends on misdirecting the audience's attention._
3. An act of disappearing; a sudden departure from sight.
   - Simple: A sudden act of going away so that you can no longer be seen or found.
   - _His overnight vanish from public life sparked endless rumors._
   - _Reporters speculated for weeks about the senator's sudden vanish._
6. The brief final portion of a vowel or vocal sound, differing somewhat in quality from its main part.
   - Simple: The short final part of a vowel sound that sounds a bit different from the main part.
   - _Phonetics teachers point out the vanish at the close of gliding vowels like the one in 'high.'_
   - _A clear vanish helps distinguish certain vowel glides._

## Origin

This is a shortened form of the obsolete word 'evanish'. It came through Middle English from Old French 'esvanir', from Vulgar Latin '*exvanire' ('to vanish, fade out'), from Latin 'evanescere', from 'vanus' ('empty'). It is a doublet of 'evanesce'.

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/vanish (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).