demise

C1 Topic:People & Society

US /dɪˈmaɪz/ See IPA manual

Freq #12604

Meanings

1

noun
The end or failure of something.

A lack of funding eventually led to the magazine's demise.
2

noun
A person's death.

The whole village mourned the demise of its beloved old doctor.

Thesaurus

Synonyms

1 noun · the end or failure of... end downfall

2 noun · a person's death. death decease

Word family

Forms demiseddemisesdemising

Derived forms demisabilitydemisablenondemiseredemiseundemised

Related forms demission demit

Etymology

From Middle English demyse, dimise, dimisse, dymyse, from Middle French démise, the feminine singular past participle of démettre (“to put down, relinquish”); from Latin dēmissa, feminine singular of perfect passive participle of dēmittō. The "death" and "end" senses derive by way of euphemism from the legal sense, as a person's death was a common way that the legal demise could be accomplished. The verb is from Middle English dimisen, from the noun.

demyse Middle English démise Middle French dēmissa Latin dimisen Middle English

View etymology graph ->

Topics

People & Society

External links

# demise

**Type:** Word
**Level:** C1
**Part of speech:** noun
**IPA (US):** /dɪˈmaɪz/
**Frequency rank:** 12604

## Meanings
1. The end or failure of something.
2. A person's death.

## Examples
- A lack of funding eventually led to the magazine's demise.
- The whole village mourned the demise of its beloved old doctor.

## Derived Forms
- demisability
- demisable
- nondemise
- redemise
- undemised

## Related Forms
- demission
- demit

## Roots and Affixes
- Root: demyse
- Root: démise
- Root: dēmissa
- Root: dimisen

## Etymology
From Middle English demyse, dimise, dimisse, dymyse, from Middle French démise, the feminine singular past participle of démettre (“to put down, relinquish”); from Latin dēmissa, feminine singular of perfect passive participle of dēmittō. The "death" and "end" senses derive by way of euphemism from the legal sense, as a person's death was a common way that the legal demise could be accomplished. The verb is from Middle English dimisen, from the noun.

## AI Etymology
Demise is from Middle English demyse, dimise, dimisse, dymyse, from Middle French démise, the feminine singular past participle of démettre (“to put down, relinquish”); from Latin dēmissa, feminine singular of perfect passive participle of dēmittō. The "death" and "end" senses derive by way of euphemism from the legal sense, as a person's death was a common way that the legal demise could be accomplished. The verb is from Middle English dimisen, from the noun. In present-day use, it can mean the end or failure of something, or a person's death. Derived formations include demisability, demisable, nondemise, redemise, and undemised.

## Topics
- People & Society

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