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at death's door

death
A a

Transcription

    • US Pronunciation
    • US IPA
    • UK Pronunciation
    • UK IPA
    • [deth]
    • /dɛθ/
    • /ət ˈdeθs dɔː(r)/
    • US Pronunciation
    • US IPA
    • [deth]
    • /dɛθ/

Definitions of at death's door words

  • phrase at death's door If you say that someone is at death's door, you mean they are very ill indeed and likely to die. 3
  • noun at death's door likely to die soon 3
  • noun at death's door nearly dead 3
  • noun at death's door the act of dying; the end of life; the total and permanent cessation of all the vital functions of an organism. Compare brain death. 1
  • noun at death's door an instance of this: a death in the family; letters published after his death. 1
  • noun at death's door the state of being dead: to lie still in death. 1
See all 22 definitions of at death's door

Information block about the term

Origin of at death's door

First appearance:

before 900
One of the 4% oldest English words
before 900; Middle English deeth, Old English dēath; cognate with German Tod, Gothic dauthus; akin to Old Norse deyja to die1; see -th1

Historical Comparancy

Parts of speech for At death's door

noun
adjective
verb
adverb
pronoun
preposition
conjunction
determiner
exclamation
Full grammatical hierarchy of At death's door

at death's door popularity

A common word. It’s meaning is known to most children of preschool age. About 99% of English native speakers know the meaning and use the word.
Most Europeans know this English word. The frequency of it’s usage is somewhere between "mom" and "screwdriver".

Synonyms for at death's door

adj at death's door

  • doomed — fate or destiny, especially adverse fate; unavoidable ill fortune: In exile and poverty, he met his doom.
  • fading — to lose brightness or vividness of color.
  • moribund — in a dying state; near death.
  • decaying — rotting as a result of bacterial, fungal, or chemical action; decomposing
  • sinking — to displace part of the volume of a supporting substance or object and become totally or partially submerged or enveloped; fall or descend into or below the surface or to the bottom (often followed by in or into): The battleship sank within two hours. His foot sank in the mud. Her head sinks into the pillows.
All 19 Synonyms of at death's door

Antonyms for at death's door

adj at death's door

  • permanent — existing perpetually; everlasting, especially without significant change.
  • growing — becoming greater in quantity, size, extent, or intensity: growing discontent among industrial workers.
  • living — having life; being alive; not dead: living persons.
  • creating — to cause to come into being, as something unique that would not naturally evolve or that is not made by ordinary processes.
  • developing — If you talk about developing countries or the developing world, you mean the countries or the parts of the world that are poor and have few industries.
All 5 Antonyms of at death's door

See also

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