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disappearance

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary

English

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Etymology

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From disappear +‎ -ance.[1]

Pronunciation

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Noun

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disappearance (countable and uncountable, plural disappearances)

  1. The action of disappearing or vanishing.
    Wireless phone technology led to the disappearance of once-common coiled cords for telephone handsets.
    • 2013 March 12, Vivian Kuo, “No answers in disappearance of New Orleans teacher”, in CNN‎[1], archived from the original on 1 July 2018:
      As hundreds of volunteers and police scoured parks and waterways in an area of New Orleans Tuesday, there were many questions but few answers about the disappearance 11 days ago of a 26-year-old teacher.
  2. Passing out of sight.
    From the shore, they watched the disappearance of the ships' masts into the haze.
  3. Leaving secretly of without explanation
    The prosecuting attorney was concerned about the potential disappearance of witnesses.
  4. Cessation of existence.
    • 1898, William B. Coley, “The Treatment of Inoperable Sarcoma with the Mixed Toxins of Erysipelas and Bacillus Prodigiosus”, in Journal of the American Medical Association, volume 31, American Medical Association, page 464:
      A single undoubted cure of a demonstrated cancer or sarcoma by this treatment would be enough to say definitely that the treatment exerts some specifically curative influence, for the spontaneous disappearance of undoubtedly malignant growths of this character is almost unknown.

Derived terms

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Translations

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References

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  1. ^ “disappearance, n.”, in OED Online Paid subscription required⁠, Oxford: Oxford University Press, launched 2000.

Further reading

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