vanish

Vanish is a verb meaning to disappear suddenly or gradually from sight or from existence. It can describe a person, object, or phenomenon that ceases to be visible or detectable. In everyday language it is often used in phrases such as vanish into thin air or vanish without a trace. Metaphorically, the term can describe something that disappears from prominence or memory, such as a tradition that vanishes or a problem that vanishes with a solution.

Etymology: The word vanish derives from Middle English vanishen, from Old French vanir, from Latin vanescere meaning to disappear, itself related to vanus meaning empty.

In drawing and art, the vanishing point is a key concept in perspective, the point at which receding parallel lines appear to converge on the horizon, giving depth to a two-dimensional depiction.

In science and technology, vanishing can describe effects in optics, such as objects that appear to vanish when contrast or lighting changes. In machine learning, the vanishing gradient problem refers to gradients becoming very small during backpropagation, hindering learning in deep neural networks.

The term Vanish is also a brand name used for laundry stain-removing products in some markets.

See also: disappear, disappearance, vanishing point, fade.