demise

See also: de mise and démise

English

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.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /dɪˈmaɪz/

  • Audio (Southern England):

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• Audio (US):

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• Rhymes: -aɪz

Noun

demise (countable and uncountable, plural demises)

1. (law) The conveyance or transfer of an estate, either in fee for life or for years, most commonly the latter.
2. 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.
   • 1936, Parliament of the United Kingdom, “Section 1”, in His Majesty's Declaration of Abdication Act 1936‎^[1], page 1:

     Immediately upon the Royal Assent being signified to this Act the Instrument of Abdication […] shall have effect, and thereupon His Majesty shall cease to be King and there shall be a demise of the Crown, and accordingly the member of the Royal Family then next in succession to the Throne shall succeed thereto and to all the rights, privileges, and dignities thereunto belonging.

3. (countable) Death; decease.

   Synonyms: fatality, quietus; see also Thesaurus:death

   • 1834, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], chapter XII, in Francesca Carrara. […], volume II, London: Richard Bentley, […], (successor to Henry Colburn), →OCLC, page 124:

     Earth looked her loveliest to receive my sweet sister's gentle dust; but all was harsh and sullen as her own nature when Lady Avonleigh's haughty ashes returned to their original element. Immediately after her demise, her son went abroad, and I accompanied him.

4. (countable) The end of something, in a negative sense; downfall.

   The lack of funding ultimately led to the project's demise.

   • 2026 March 4, Christian Wolmar, “Railtrack: what really happened”, in RAIL, number 1056, page 50:

     More than a quarter of a century after the fraught events that followed the privatisation of the railway, Corbett has provided a warts and all analysis of what led to the spate of rail disasters in the aftermath of the break-up of British Rail, and (ultimately) to the demise of the company.

   • 2026 May 24, Pjotr Sauer, Shaun Walker, “‘There is profound disappointment in him’: mood in Russia turns against Putin”, in The Guardian‎^[2], →ISSN:

     “Who is going to move against him [V. Putin]? Everyone is simply waiting for his demise,” [Oleg] Tinkov added.

5. (technology) The atmospheric disintegration of a satellite or satellite component upon re-entering Earth's atmosphere.

   Relocating components to places where they receive more heating effect earlier in the reentry and even triggering a partial break-up of the satellite structure during reentry to aid demise.

Derived terms

• early fetal demise
• nondemise

Related terms

• demission
• demit

Translations

the conveyance or transfer of an estate, either in fee for life or for years — see also transference

• Bulgarian: прехвърляне (bg) n (prehvărljane)
• Catalan: traspàs (ca) m
• Dutch: overdracht (nl) m
• French: transfert (fr) m
• German: Verpachtung (de) f
• Macedonian: префрлу́вање n (prefrlúvanje), пре́нос m (prénos)
• Occitan: transfèrt (oc) m, transferiment (oc) m

transmission by formal act or conveyance to an heir or successor

• Bulgarian: предаване по наследство n (predavane po nasledstvo)
• Catalan: traspàs (ca) m
• Dutch: overdracht (nl) m
• French: transfert (fr) m, transmission (fr) f
• German: Übertragung (de) f, Besitzübertragung f, Übergabe (de) f, Übergang (de) m
• Macedonian: преда́вање по на́следство n (predávanje po následstvo)
• Occitan: transfèrt (oc) m, transferiment (oc), transmission (oc) f
• Portuguese: cessão (pt) f, transferência (pt) f
• Russian: переда́ча по насле́дству f (peredáča po naslédstvu)

death — see also death,‎ decease

• Afrikaans: dood (af)
• Arabic: وَفَاة f (wafāh)
• Armenian: մահ (hy) (mah), վախճան (hy) (vaxčan)
• Bulgarian: смърт (bg) f (smărt)
• Catalan: defunció (ca) f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 逝世 (zh) (shìshì)

• Czech: úmrtí (cs) n
• Dutch: dood (nl) m
• Esperanto: morto (eo), forpaso
• Finnish: poismeno (fi), kuolema (fi)
• French: mort (fr) f
• German: Tod (de) m
• Hebrew: מוות (he) (ma'vet)
• Ingrian: koolema, surma
• Italian: morte (it) f, decesso (it) m
• Kazakh: ажал (ajal)
• Macedonian: смрт (mk) f (smrt)
• Māori: tāwhatitanga
• Norwegian: bortgang
• Occitan: mòrt (oc) f, décès m
• Persian: فوت (fa) (fovt)
• Polish: zgon (pl) m, śmierć (pl) f
• Portuguese: morte (pt) f, óbito (pt) m, falecimento (pt) m
• Russian: кончи́на (ru) f (končína), смерть (ru) f (smertʹ), ги́бель (ru) f (gíbelʹ)
• Scottish Gaelic: bàs m, caochladh m, eug m

end, downfall, or failure — see also end,‎ downfall,‎ disappearance

• Catalan: desaparició (ca) f, caiguda (ca) f, fallida (ca) f
• Czech: konec (cs) m, zánik (cs) m
• Dutch: neergang (nl) m, falen (nl) n
• French: chute (fr) f, fin (fr) f, échec (fr) f, disparition (fr) f
• German: Untergang (de) m, Verschwinden (de) n, Niedergang (de) m, Scheitern (de) n
• Hungarian: bukás (hu)
• Ido: falo (io), fino (io), nesuceso (io)
• Italian: falio
• Macedonian: крај m (kraj), про́паст f (própast)
• Māori: whakahinganga
• Occitan: casuda (oc) f, fin (oc) f, malafin f, revirada (oc) f, fracàs (oc) m
• Portuguese: fim (pt) m, ruína (pt) f, colapso (pt) m, fracasso (pt) m
• Spanish: quiebra (es) f

Verb

demise (third-person singular simple present demises, present participle demising, simple past and past participle demised)

1. (transitive, obsolete, law) To give.
2. (transitive, law) To convey, as by will or lease.
3. (transitive, law) To transmit by inheritance.
4. (intransitive, law) To pass by inheritance.
5. (intransitive) To die.

Derived terms

• demisability
• demisable
• redemise
• undemised

Anagrams

• -semide, Eidems, Medise, demies, medise

Czech

Etymology

Borrowed from French démission, from Latin dēmissiō, from dēmittō.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ˈdɛmɪsɛ]

Noun

demise f

1. resignation, abdication

   Synonyms: abdikace, rezignace

   podat demisi ― to resign

Declension

Declension of demise (soft feminine)

	singular	plural
nominative	demise	demise
genitive	demise	demisí
dative	demisi	demisím
accusative	demisi	demise
vocative	demise	demise
locative	demisi	demisích
instrumental	demisí	demisemi

See also

• mise

Further reading

• “demise”, in Příruční slovník jazyka českého (in Czech), 1935–1957
• “demise”, in Slovník spisovného jazyka českého (in Czech), 1960–1971, 1989
• “demise”, in Internetová jazyková příručka (in Czech), 2008–2026