disappearance

disappearance — noun

1. a situation in which someone or something can no longer be seen or found, either

1.nounB1
Definition

a situation in which someone or something can no longer be seen or found, either because they have gone to an unknown place or because they no longer exist.

Example

The disappearance of the old lighthouse surprised everyone in the village.

collocation: the disappearance of [something]

Police are investigating the disappearance of a young woman named Jisoo.

collocation: investigate the disappearance of [someone]

Common collocations
  • sudden disappearance
  • mysterious disappearance
  • the disappearance of
  • investigate the disappearance
  • disappearance from
  • mass disappearance
  • disappearance rate
Synonyms
  • vanishing

    more dramatic and sudden, often suggesting something happening right before one's eyes

  • loss

    broader in scope; includes things that are merely misplaced, not necessarily mysteriously gone

  • extinction

    specifically about a species, language, or custom that has completely ceased to exist

Antonyms
  • appearance

    the act of coming into view or becoming visible

  • emergence

    coming out from hiding or into existence

Grammar Patterns

the disappearance of + noun phrase

a disappearance / disappearances (when event-like)

Usage Note

Frequently followed by an of-phrase to specify what has vanished. Can be uncountable when referring to the general fact (e.g., 'the disappearance of the rainforests'), or countable when referring to a specific event (e.g., 'there have been three disappearances this year').

Common Mistakes

The disappearance of the pen from my desk was strange.
The pen disappeared from my desk.
For everyday objects that are simply lost, use the verb 'disappear'. The noun 'disappearance' usually suggests a more significant or mysterious event.

Word family

Synonym discussion

Sense: noun/1

While disappearance, vanishing, loss, and extinction all describe something no longer being present, they differ in scope and connotation. Vanishing suggests something sudden and dramatic, as if dissolving before your eyes ('the vanishing of the island's forest'). Loss is the broadest term — it includes misplacing objects, missing people, and abstract deprivations ('the loss of a job, a friend, or a tradition'). Extinction is reserved for entire species, languages, or ways of life that have completely ended with no chance of return ('the extinction of the dodo'). Disappearance sits between these — less final than extinction, more mysterious than loss. For example, 'the disappearance of the hiker' implies an unsolved case, while 'the loss of the hiker' could simply mean he got lost but was later found.

vanishingloss ↗extinction ↗

Common collocations

Nouns

Adverbs

Phrases

  • the disappearance of
  • a series of disappearances
  • disappearance from sight

Prepositions

Etymology

LatinFrenchEnglish

Formed in English from the verb 'disappear' (dis- meaning 'reverse of' + appear, from Latin appārēre 'to come into sight') plus the noun suffix -ance. The word first appeared in the early 1700s, originally referring to things that could no longer be seen.