How to Use perish in a Sentence

perish

verb
  • The sailors perished at sea.
  • Two people perished in the fire.
  • The rubber will perish with age.
  • Many ancient languages have perished over time.
  • The civilization perished after 500 years.
  • They were doomed to perish in the fires of hell.
    — Christine Pelisek, PEOPLE, 13 Jan. 2026
  • They were doomed to perish in the fires of hell.
    — Emily Blackwood, PEOPLE, 7 Jan. 2026
  • They were doomed to perish in the fires of hell.
    — Emily Blackwood, PEOPLE, 10 Jan. 2026
  • They were doomed to perish in the fires of hell.
    — Kc Baker, PEOPLE, 11 Jan. 2026
  • They were doomed to perish in the fires of hell.
    — Caroline Blair, PEOPLE, 15 Jan. 2026
  • They were doomed to perish in the fires of hell.
    — Christine Pelisek, PEOPLE, 14 Jan. 2026
  • Forty-nine lives perished that night.
    — Rev. José Rodriguez, The Orlando Sentinel, 12 June 2026
  • And some big, old, beloved trees perished from the high winds.
    — Justin Kaufmann, Axios, 16 July 2024
  • Nine of the 19 dogs in the truck perished.
    — Sara Tenenbaum, CBS News, 5 Dec. 2025
  • The army she’s been building has perished.
    — Barry Levitt, Time, 4 Dec. 2025
  • Nine of them were rescued, but one, a meerkat, perished in the fire.
    — Melissa Locker, Southern Living, 16 June 2023
  • One camper perished in her cabin.
    — Mateo Rosiles, USA Today, 23 June 2026
  • Half of the people aboard perished.
    — Arkansas Online, 13 Mar. 2026
  • Half of the people aboard perished.
    — ABC News, 12 Mar. 2026
  • Many of the trees are expected to perish in three to five years.
    — Brian Melley, ajc, 19 Nov. 2021
  • The group knows that some of those 427 may have perished in the flames.
    — Kevin Fagan, San Francisco Chronicle, 30 May 2018
  • At first, the team assumed the wolves would eat the deer and move on—or starve and perish.
    — Doug Johnson, Ars Technica, 26 Jan. 2023
  • The goo stops them from perishing, and the two embrace in a hug.
    — Lea Veloso, StyleCaster, 26 Dec. 2025
  • Lewis says the count of those who perished will likely climb daily.
    — Susan Young, Peoplemag, 17 Aug. 2023
  • All the stories stress the maxim that our species must adapt or perish.
    — Washington Post, 10 May 2021
  • Phillips was among the 1,500 who perished.
    — Encyclopedia Britannica, 10 Apr. 2026
  • Hospital staff had to tell them those not on the list had perished.
    — Silas Morgan, The Orlando Sentinel, 23 May 2026
  • Fourteen people perished on a line that was less than a decade old.
    — Laura Paddison, CNN Money, 25 Aug. 2025
  • Two victims were killed by gunfire and two more perished in the fire.
    — Alexandra Chaidez, NBC news, 20 Jan. 2026
  • Did the whole book really perish in the flames?
    — Mike Fleming Jr, Deadline, 31 Aug. 2025

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'perish.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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