demise

From Middle English demyse, dimise, dimisse, dymyse, from Middle French démise, the feminine singular past participle of démettre (“to put down, relinquish”); from Latin dēmissa, feminine singular of perfect passive participle of dēmittō. The "death" and "end" senses derive by way of euphemism from the legal sense, as a person's death was a common way that the legal demise could be accomplished.

The verb is from Middle English dimisen, from the noun.^[1]

• IPA^(key): /dɪˈmaɪz/

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• Rhymes: -aɪz

demise (countable and uncountable, plural demises)

1. (law) The conveyance or transfer of an estate, either in fee for life or for years, most commonly the latter.
2. Transmission by formal act or conveyance to an heir or successor; transference; especially, the transfer or transmission of the crown or royal authority to a successor.
   • 1936, “His Majesty's Declaration of Abdication Act 1936”, in legislation.gov.uk‎^[1], retrieved 9 December 2022:

     Immediately upon the Royal Assent being signified to this Act the Instrument of Abdication executed by His present Majesty on the tenth day of December, nineteen hundred and thirty-six, set out in the Schedule to this Act, shall have effect, and thereupon His Majesty shall cease to be King and there shall be a demise of the Crown, and accordingly the member of the Royal Family then next in succession to the Throne shall succeed thereto and to all the rights, privileges, and dignities thereunto belonging.

3. (countable) Death.

   Synonyms: fatality, quietus; see also Thesaurus:death

   • 1834, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], chapter XII, in Francesca Carrara. […], volume II, London: Richard Bentley, […], (successor to Henry Colburn), →OCLC, page 124:

     Earth looked her loveliest to receive my sweet sister's gentle dust; but all was harsh and sullen as her own nature when Lady Avonleigh's haughty ashes returned to their original element. Immediately after her demise, her son went abroad, and I accompanied him.

4. (countable) The end of something, in a negative sense; downfall.

   The lack of funding ultimately led to the project's demise.

5. (technology) The atmospheric disintegration of a satellite or satellite component upon re-entering Earth's atmosphere.

   Relocating components to places where they receive more heating effect earlier in the reentry and even triggering a partial break-up of the satellite structure during reentry to aid demise.

• early fetal demise
• nondemise

• demission
• demit

demise (third-person singular simple present demises, present participle demising, simple past and past participle demised)

1. (transitive, obsolete, law) To give.
2. (transitive, law) To convey, as by will or lease.
3. (transitive, law) To transmit by inheritance.
4. (intransitive, law) To pass by inheritance.
5. (intransitive) To die.

• -semide, Eidems, Medise, demies, medise

Borrowed from French démission, from Latin dēmissiō, from dēmittō.

• IPA^(key): [ˈdɛmɪsɛ]

demise f

1. resignation, abdication

   Synonyms: abdikace, rezignace

   podat demisi ― to resign

• mise

• “demise”, in Příruční slovník jazyka českého (in Czech), 1935–1957
• “demise”, in Slovník spisovného jazyka českého (in Czech), 1960–1971, 1989
• “demise”, in Internetová jazyková příručka (in Czech), 2008–2025