vanish

To vanish is to disappear or leave suddenly as if by magic. When people or things vanish, it’s usually a surprise. This is an intransitive verb, so don’t place a direct object after the word.

• No one knows what happened to Roberta’s jacket. It just vanished.
• The little boy vanished from his home without a trace. ("Without a trace" is often used with the word "vanish." So is "into thin air." He vanished into thin air.)
• Everyone vanished when it came (time) to clean up the mess from the party.
• The women vanished inside the country never to be seen again.
• Those products are so popular with shoppers they vanish as soon as they hit the shelves.
• Bob never told anyone he was leaving. He just vanished.
• An artist creates the illusion of distance in a two-dimensional picture by creating a vanishing point. (vanishing point = two lines come closer and closer together until they meet.)

Vanishing points in a picture create the illusion of distance.

Click here to go to the Word of the Day page.

August 24, 2015