perishing

[ per-i-shing ]

adjective

1. causing destruction, ruin, extreme discomfort, or death:

   lost in the perishing cold.

perishing

/ ˈpɛrɪʃɪŋ /

adjective

1. informal.
   (of weather, etc) extremely cold
2. slang.
   (intensifier qualifying something undesirable)

   it's a perishing nuisance!

Derived Forms

• ˈperishingly, adverb

Other Words From

• perish·ing·ly adverb
• non·perish·ing adjective
• un·perish·ing adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of perishing¹

late Middle English word dating back to 1400–50; perish, -ing ²

Example Sentences

All that’s clear is massive landmarks are perishing and that you need to run.

From Salon

Can’t say the local GOP is perishing, but given the above, it doesn’t seem too healthy.

From Seattle Times

One woman told us this Easter was bittersweet: "I don't feel good when I see Haiti is perishing. Especially when I see my brothers and sisters dying from bullets in Port-au-Prince."

From BBC

But it was littered with cautionary tales of women who got strung out on drugs, who found themselves single moms to multiple kids with various ballers, who were totally burnt out, whose reputations were so damaged that they disappeared into oblivion, or who didn’t make it out at all, perishing by suicide or overdose.

From Los Angeles Times

The young meat-eater had chomped off the hind legs of two parrot-like dinosaurs called caenagnathids before perishing itself.

From National Geographic

Related Words

• blight
• corrosion
• decomposition
• degeneration
• deterioration
• disintegration
• disrepair
• extinction
• impairment
• rot