dis·ap·pear

(dĭs′ə-pîr′)

v. dis·ap·peared, dis·ap·pear·ing, dis·ap·pears

v.intr.

1. To pass out of sight; vanish: The moon disappeared behind the clouds.

2. To cease to be seen; be missing or unfound: Her purse disappeared from her locker. The plane disappeared somewhere over the Pacific Ocean.

3. To cease to exist: Dinosaurs disappeared at the end of the Cretaceous Period.

v.tr.

To cause (someone) to disappear, especially by kidnapping or murder.

dis′ap·pear′ance n.

Synonyms: disappear, evanesce, evaporate, fade, vanish
These verbs mean to pass out of sight or existence: a skyscraper disappearing in the fog; time seeming to evanesce; courage evaporating; memories fading away; hope slowly vanishing.

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

dis•ap•pear•ance

(ˌdɪs əˈpɪər əns)

n.

the act or an instance of disappearing; a ceasing to be seen or to exist.

[1705–15]

Disappearance

Blown away like clouds —Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
Blows away like a deck of cards in a hurricane —George Garrett
Bobbed away like a soap-bubble —Sylvia Plath
(The premonition had) boiled off like a puff of bad air —Herbert Lieberman
Borne away like a cork on a stream —Lawrence Durrell
(The old worlds) died away like dew —Dame Edith Sitwell
Disappeared as if into fairyland —Peter Najarian
Disappeared … effortlessly, like a star into a cloud —F. van Wyck Mason
Disappeared like a sigh —Tom Wolfe
[Food being served, vegetables] disappeared like leaves before locusts —Charlotte Brontë
Disappeared like raindrops which fall in the ocean —John T. Morse, about the loss of many of Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr.’s similes and other witticisms
Disappeared [huntsmen and hounds into a bewitched forest] like soap bubbles —Anne Sexton
Disappeared … like sparks dropped into wet grass —James Crumley
Disappearing like the fastest fairy who ever lived —Brian Donleavy See Also: SPEED
Disappearing, like water poured out of a wide-necked bottle —Diane Wakoski
Disappear like a moon entering a cloud bank —Bernard Malamud
Disappear like quicksilver in the cracks —Booth Tarkington
Disappear like socks in the laundry —Elyse Sommer
Disappear like the dew on the mountain —Anon
Drift away into infinity, like a child’s balloon at a circus —Robert Penn Warren
Everybody peeled away like an onion —Official of a New York company on reason for his firm’s bankruptcy, New York Times, December 12, 1986
(The vision of her early loveliness) faded from reality like dew licked up by the sun —Elinor Wylie
Faded like a cloud which has outswept its rain —Percy Bysshe Shelley
Faded … like dew upon the sea —Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr.
(The restlessness in him) faded like fog before sunshine —Pearl S. Buck
(Light would … ) fade like a slow gray curtain dropping —Nelson Algren
Fades like the lustre of an evening cloud —William Wordsworth
[Awareness of children] fading like old ink —Margaret Atwood
(The season) fading like woodwind music —George Garrett
Fading like young joy —Dame Edith Sitwell
Fall away like forgiven sins —Miller Williams
(All your joys start) falling like sand through a sieve —Lorenz Hart
Hart’s lyric for “A Lady Must Live” from America’s Sweetheart omitted the letter ‘g’ in ‘falling.’
Fell away like a wall —Dudley Clendinen, New York Times, March 31, 1985, about a publisher’s declining advertising revenues
(Childhood and youth, friendship and love’s first glow, have) fled like sweet dreams —Percy Bysshe Shelley
(Any thought I had for such an enterprise) fled like thunder —Richard Ford
Flown like a thought —John Keats
Fluttered away like flakes of snow —Louis Bromfield
[Ceremonial occasions] glide swift into shadow, like sails on the seas —John Greenleaf Whittier
(He was) gone again, gone like some shadow the fire had made —Davis Grubb
Gone and out of sight like a thought —Richard Ford
Gone as a dream is gone from a dreamer wakened with a shout —Lord Dunsany
‘Wakened’ has been modernized from ‘waked.’
Gone … as if they had evaporated —Dorothy Canfield Fisher
(That moment is) gone forever, like lightning that flashed and died, like a snowflake upon the river, like a sunbeam upon the tide —Percy Bysshe Shelley
Gone from my gaze like a beautiful dream —George Linley
Gone like a flushed toilet —Max Apple
Gone like a morning dream, or like a pile of clouds —William Wordsworth
Gone like a quick wind —Ursula Le Guin
(Our world was) gone like a scrap in the wind —Beryl Markham
Gone like a wild bird, like a blowing flame —Euripides
[Smile of a loved one] gone like dreams that we forget —William Wordsworth
(And all the students) gone, like last week’s snow —Delmore Schwartz
Gone like our change at the end of the week —Palmer Cox
(Words) gone like sparks burned up in darkness —Jayne Anne Phillips
[A funeral procession] gone … like tears in the eyes —Karl Shapiro
Gone, like tenants that quit without warning —Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr.
Gone, like the life from a busted balloon —Palmer Cox
(I am) gone like the shadow when it declines —The Holy Bible /Psalms
The biblical ‘declineth’ has been modernized.
Go out … just like a candle —Lewis Carroll
(The Contessina could no longer see him;) it was as though he had slipped from her vision, and the crack had closed above him forever —Elizabeth Bowen
(Maybe he wanted her to) lift up, blow away somewhere, like a kite —Margaret Atwood
Like a match struck on a stove … faded and was gone —James Agee
Like a passing thought she fled —Robert Burns
Burns’ line has found its way into daily language as “Vanish like a passing thought.”
Like a shadow, glided out of view —William Wordsworth
Like swallows in autumn they fled, and left the house silent —John Hall Wheelock
Lost like stars beyond dark trees —Dante Gabriel Rossetti
(Her patience) melted like snow before a blow-torch —Julia O’Faolain
(Money) melting away like butter in the sun —Bertolt Brecht
Off and away like a frightened fish —Ogden Nash
Pass as if it had never existed, like a fart in a gale of wind —Richard Russo
Pass away like clouds before the wind —William Wordsworth
Passed like a ghost from view —John Greenleaf Whittier
(The wild part of her had) perished like burned grass —Ellen Glasgow
(Life was) receding … as the sea abruptly withdraws, abandoning a rock it has caressed too long —Françoise Sagan
Receding like a bad dream —Anon
(He felt the distress and suspicions of the previous night) receding like a tempest —George Santayana
[Sounds] receding like the image of a man between two mirrors —Frank Conroy
Sank like lead into the sea —Brian Moore
Sank to the bottom as a stone —The Holy Bible/Exodus
Scuttle away … like moths —W. D. Snodgrass
(The cares that infest the day,) shall fold their tents, like the Arabs, and as silently steal away —Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
Shrank away like an ill-treated child —W. H. Auden
Shrank like an anemone —Derek Lambert
Slip away like water —Edna St. Vincent Millay
[Thoughts] slipped away … like bushes on the side of a sheer precipice —Edith Wharton
Slipping silently away like a thief in a London fog —Jack Whitaker, ABC-TV, about the Goodyear blimp disappearing in the mist above the US Open golf tournament in San Francisco, June 20, 1987
Slips away like a snake in a weed-tangle —Robert Penn Warren
Slips out of my life like sand —Diane Wakoski
A slow fade, like a candle or an icicle —Margaret Atwood
(The nights) snapped out of sight like a lizard’s eyelid —Sylvia Plath
Suddenly disappeared with a jerk, as if somebody had given her a violent pull from behind —Charles Dickens
(Her voice) suddenly disappeared, like a coin in a magic trick —Scott Spencer
Vanish … as easily as an eel into sand —Arthur Conan Doyle
Vanish as raindrops which fall in the sea —Susan Coolidge
Vanish away like the ghost of breath —George Garrett
Vanished, ghost-like, into air —Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
Vanished like a puff of steam —H. G. Wells
A frequently used alternative is to vanish or leave “Like a puff of wind.”
(The stray cat) vanished like a swift, invisible shadow —D. H. Lawrence
[Food being served, dessert] vanished like a vision —Charlotte Brontë
Vanished like a wisp of vapor —Edith Wharton
(He had simply) vanished, like Gaugin —Lynne Sharon Schwartz
Vanished like midnight ghosts —Charles Lindbergh
Lindbergh used the simile in 1927 to describe the flight of a French plane, L’Oiseau Blanc.
Vanished like some little bird that has been flushed out of the shrubbery —Mikhail Lermontov
Vanished like the last of the buffalo hunters —George Garrett
Vanished [out of his mind] like the mist before the rising sun —H. G. Wells
[The impression made upon people by a tragedy] vanishes as quickly as a delicious fruit melts in the mouth —Honoré de Balzac
Vanishes as rapidly as a road runner in a cartoon —New Yorker, August 26, 1985
In the “Talk of The Town” column, this referred to the speed with which a book, once finished, disappears from a writer’s mental picture.
(Beauty) vanishing like a long sigh —George Garrett
Vanish like a changing mood —John Hall Wheelock
Vanish like a cocktail before dinner —Anon
Vanish like a dew-drop in a rose —Gerald Massey
Vanish like a ghost before the sun —P. J. Bailey
Vanish like an echo —Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Vanish like birds in winter —George Garrett
Vanish like lightning —Henry Taylor
Vanish like plunging stars —Don Marquis
Vanish like raindrops which fall in the sea —Anon
Vanish like smoke —Percy Bysshe Shelley
Vanish like the Witch of the North —George Garrett
Vanish like white soft crowns of dandelions in the wind —George Garrett
Vanish like writing in the sand —Anon
(My awe of Cruikback) went away like a mist in a high wind —Gerald Kersh
Went away like a summer fly —W. B. Yeats
Went gloriously away, like lightning from the sky —Edgar Allen Poe
[Sense of peace] went out like a shooting star —Edna O’Brien

ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:

Noun	1.	disappearance - the act of leaving secretly or without explanation disappearing departure, going, going away, leaving - the act of departing vanishing - a sudden disappearance from sight appearance - the act of appearing in public view; "the rookie made a brief appearance in the first period"; "it was Bernhardt's last appearance in America"
	2.	disappearance - the event of passing out of sight happening, natural event, occurrence, occurrent - an event that happens ingress, immersion - (astronomy) the disappearance of a celestial body prior to an eclipse evanescence - the event of fading and gradually vanishing from sight; "the evanescence of the morning mist" vanishing - a sudden or mysterious disappearance fadeout, receding - a slow or gradual disappearance appearance - the event of coming into sight
	3.	disappearance - gradually ceasing to be visible fade ending, termination, conclusion - the act of ending something; "the termination of the agreement"
	4.	disappearance - ceasing to exist; "he regretted the disappearance of Greek from school curricula"; "what was responsible for the disappearance of the rainforest?"; "the disappearance of resistance at very low temperatures" happening, natural event, occurrence, occurrent - an event that happens

disappearance

noun

1. vanishing, going, passing, disappearing, fading, melting, eclipse, evaporation, evanescence the gradual disappearance of the pain

2. flight, departure, desertion, disappearing trick his disappearance while out on bail

3. loss, losing, theft, mislaying Police are investigating the disappearance of confidential files.

4. dying out, decline, falling off, petering out the disappearance of dolphins in recent years

Collins Thesaurus of the English Language – Complete and Unabridged 2nd Edition. 2002 © HarperCollins Publishers 1995, 2002

disappearance

noun

The act or an example of passing out of sight:

evanescence, evaporation, fade-out, vanishment.

Translations

إخْتِفاءاِخْتِفَاء

zmizenímizení

forsvinden

katoaminen

nestanak

eltûnés

hvarf

scomparsa sparizione

見えなくなること

사라짐

zmiznutie

izginotje

försvinnande

การหายไป

gözden kaybolmaortadan kaybolmayok olma

sự biến mất

消失

disappearance

[ˌdɪsəˈpɪərəns] N → desaparición f

Collins Spanish Dictionary - Complete and Unabridged 8th Edition 2005 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1971, 1988 © HarperCollins Publishers 1992, 1993, 1996, 1997, 2000, 2003, 2005

disappearance

[ˌdɪsəˈpɪərəns] n

[person] → disparition f

[object, money] → disparition f

(= extinction) [species, habitat, tradition, language] → disparition f

disappearance

n → Verschwinden nt

Collins German Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged 7th Edition 2005. © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1980 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1997, 1999, 2004, 2005, 2007

disappearance

[ˌdɪsəˈpɪər/əns] n → scomparsa, sparizione f

disappear

(disəˈpiə) verb

1. to vanish from sight. The sun disappeared slowly below the horizon.

2. to fade out of existence. This custom had disappeared by the end of the century.

3. to go away so that other people do not know where one is. A search is being carried out for the boy who disappeared from his home on Monday.

ˌdisapˈpearance noun

disappearance

→ اِخْتِفَاء zmizení forsvinden Verschwinden εξαφάνιση desaparición katoaminen disparition nestanak scomparsa 見えなくなること 사라짐 verdwijning forsvinning zniknięcie desaparecimento исчезновение försvinnande การหายไป gözden kaybolma sự biến mất 消失