: a sudden sharp decline of a population of animals or plants that is not caused directly by human activity
died off; dying off; dies off
: to die sequentially either singly or in numbers so that the total number is greatly diminished
Examples of die-off in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
Jaclyn Cosgrove, Los Angeles Times, 12 Dec. 2024
To set conditions for a kind of victory, Ukraine should prolong the great Russian die-off.
—David Axe, Forbes, 27 Nov. 2024
Evan Bush, NBC News, 12 Dec. 2024
Everything else can die off, and the jellyfish persist.
—Taylor Wilson, USA TODAY, 1 July 2024
See all Example Sentences for die-off 
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Noun
The key reason for the die-off was a lack of food, Schulman-Janiger said.
—Jaclyn Cosgrove, Los Angeles Times, 12 Dec. 2024
To set conditions for a kind of victory, Ukraine should prolong the great Russian die-off.
—David Axe, Forbes, 27 Nov. 2024
Verb
The new studies say those populations died off and became evolutionary dead ends.
—Evan Bush, NBC News, 12 Dec. 2024
Everything else can die off, and the jellyfish persist.
—Taylor Wilson, USA TODAY, 1 July 2024
See all Example Sentences for die-off
Dictionary Entries Near die-off
Cite this Entry
“Die-off.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/die-off. Accessed 22 Dec. 2024.
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