Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. Death.
- n. The end of existence or activity; termination: the demise of the streetcar.
- n. Law Transfer of an estate by lease or will.
- n. The transfer of a ruler's authority by death or abdication.
- v. Law To transfer (an estate) by will or lease.
- v. To transfer (sovereignty) by abdication or will.
- v. Law To be transferred by will or descent: The land demised to a charitable institution.
- v. To die.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. Transfer; transmission; devolution, as of a right or an estate in consequence of death, forfeiture of title, etc.
- n. In law, a conveyance or transfer of an estate by will or lease in fee, for life or for a term of years; in modern use, a lease for years.
- n. Hence Death, especially of a sovereign or other person transmitting important possessions or great fame: often used as a mere euphemism for death, without other implication.
- To bequeath; grant by will.
- In law, to transfer or convey, as an estate, for life or for years; lease.
- To pass by bequest or inheritance; descend, as property.
Wiktionary
- n. law The conveyance or transfer of an estate, either in fee for life or for years, most commonly the latter.
- n. Transmission by formal act or conveyance to an heir or successor; transference; especially, the transfer or transmission of the crown or royal authority to a successor.
- n. Death.
- n. end (less common, usually in a negative manner)
- v. transitive, obsolete, law To give.
- v. transitive, law To convey, as by will or lease.
- v. transitive, law To transmit by inheritance.
- v. intransitive, law To pass by inheritance.
- v. intransitive To die.
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. Transmission by formal act or conveyance to an heir or successor; transference; especially, the transfer or transmission of the crown or royal authority to a successor.
- n. The decease of a royal or princely person; hence, also, the death of any illustrious person.
- n. (Law) The conveyance or transfer of an estate, either in fee for life or for years, most commonly the latter.
- v. To transfer or transmit by succession or inheritance; to grant or bestow by will; to bequeath.
- v. rare To convey; to give.
- v. (Law) To convey, as an estate, by lease; to lease.
WordNet 3.0
- n. the time when something ends
- v. transfer by a lease or by a will
Etymologies
- From Latin demissa, feminine singular of perfect passive participle of dēmittō, apparently via Middle French démise, the feminine singular past participle of démettre. (Wiktionary)
- Middle English, transfer of property, from Old French dimis, past participle of demettre, to release; see demit. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“So, of course, since this bill will be so bad for the “Democrat Party” all the Republicans will be voting for it to make sure that their demise is accelerated, right?”
“Expediting his demise is his brother who betrays Stopmouth.”
The Inferior-Peadar O Guilin « The Merry Genre Go Round Reviews
“I've read it again somewhere recently, books of letters are nearing their end, the demise is almost upon us and e mails with their clipped language will surely be a poor substitute.”
“That nobody really knows about his demise is a tragedy in itself.”
“Looks like the demise is an “any time now” sort of afair.”
“They were carrying a cardboard coffin symbolising what they called the demise of the education system.”
“In a speech broadcast on Iran state television, he predicted what he called the demise of American capitalism and corporate favoritism.”
“Ayatollah Khamenei predicted what he called the demise of American capitalism and corporate favoritism.”
“Your time is running out and wasting time on this issue will add to your certain demise in the next elections. barrystash”
“I think knowing that intelligent Hispanic, female is soon to become confirmed makes him feel insecure about his own future and certain demise of the Good Ol 'Boys club ...”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘demise’.
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GRE Barrons Wordlist
A complete Barron's Wordlist for GRE preparation. Your online flashcard replacement.
abase, abash, abate, abbreviate, abdicate, aberrant, aberration, abet, abeyance, abhor, abject, abjure and 4087 more...
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Interesting words
A list of words that are odd or words that I have looked up.
concupiscence, brize, scree, scoria, forestaff, spanaemia, valetudinarianism, distasture, pyrethrum, laudanum, gentian, bicameral and 11184 more...
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2nd part
prelude, ample, escalate, prototype, accession, acquisition, archives, zealot, indict, verdict, intimidating, timid and 454 more...
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goodkitten's list
there is going to be a lot of words...
flammivomous, pep, electrolyzation, research, constrain, why, refrigerator, invisible, windblown, curate's egg, echoism, drumble and 103 more...
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bad memory
copper, anvil, oblique, thrust, shrine, welfare, farewell, bitter, faction, sectarian, tangible, spectacle and 134 more...
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EN-HU - important words for a HU inte...
Words only (I left out the expressions) from Geza Kerenyi's EN-HU interpreters' dictionary. Most of them pose some difficulty when interpreted between HU and EN in either or both directions.
abalone, abrasive, abstractionist, abstruse, abysmal, academia, accessibility, accessible, acclimate, accolade, accompanist, achiever and 1469 more...
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AGRI - horse breeding
place bet, Przewalski's horse, piaffe, genus Claviceps, stadium jumping, draft animal, snaffle bit, noseband, equestrian sport, endurance riding, curb bit, dressage and 678 more...
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life, death, rebirth
vale of tears, aborning, transmigration, reincarnate, nativity, nascence, metempsychosis, palingenesis, againrising, psychopannychism, thnetopsychism, shuffle off this ... and 104 more...
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Hence
Words with definitions that have a "hence" in them.
hanger, Deet, tripe, spindlelegs, fiddle, store, pluck, snap, villain, link, comedy, particular and 410 more...
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crime slang
slang terms for crimes, also words associated with shady behaviour
phony paper passin, stroppy, situation, clip, flip, artform, volatile, teleport, squee, futz, fizzog, hotch up and 23 more...
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big book gre
abase, abbess, abbey, abbot, abdicate, abdomen, abdominal, abduction, abed, aberration, abet, abeyance and 6691 more...
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the first list
an immense, grandiloquent list that loads like a thousand years sentence in stone. new words are in the other lists.
ridiculous, brummagem, predicament, sanctimonious, vapid, eschew, admonish, auspicious, capitulation, enumerate, lachrymose, tenet and 1648 more...
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GCI
spinster, maiden, happy-go-lucky, homonym, ill-at-ease, saw red, out of sorts, hot under the collar, taken aback, pen-names, alias, shoelaces and 378 more...
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maygra
apropos, advantageous, perception, discombobulated, adumbrate, apogee, perihelion, mortmain, solitudinous, mediastinus, asumbrative, traveler and 498 more...
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No Dearth of Deadly Designations
catafalque, cenotaph, necropolis, sepulcher, sarcophagus, mausoleum, reliquary, ossuary, necrosis, cadaver, cadaverous, pyre and 103 more...
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Is it morning yet?
coterie, lexeme, counterbalance, forthright, pigtail, ponytail, french-braid, barrette, listless, counsel, sitting duck, dead duck and 268 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for demise.

bilby "An expression of full support (from a colleague) is a sure sign of impending political demise."
- Michael Brissenden, ABC 7:30 Report, 16 February 2009. Feb 16, 2009