perishing

[ per-i-shing ]
See synonyms for perishing on Thesaurus.com
adjective
  1. causing destruction, ruin, extreme discomfort, or death: lost in the perishing cold.

Origin of perishing

1
late Middle English word dating back to 1400–50; see origin at perish, -ing2

Other words from perishing

  • per·ish·ing·ly, adverb
  • non·per·ish·ing, adjective
  • un·per·ish·ing, adjective

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use perishing in a sentence

  • The mere outer friendship may in some degree—greater or less—survive; but the singular love in it has perishingly dropped away.

    Pierre; or The Ambiguities | Herman Melville
  • About mid-day a wind sprang up, and the water, fed by the melting snows, was perishingly cold.

    Through the Heart of Patagonia | H. Hesketh Prichard
  • You were neither a good thing nor a bad thing: perishingly passive.

    I, Mary MacLane | Mary MacLane

British Dictionary definitions for perishing

perishing

/ (ˈpɛrɪʃɪŋ) /


adjective
  1. informal (of weather, etc) extremely cold

  2. slang (intensifier qualifying something undesirable): it's a perishing nuisance!

Derived forms of perishing

  • perishingly, adverb

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012