How to Use die-off in a Sentence

die-off

1 of 2 noun
  • So maybe less daunting and more just gross, are these mass fish die-offs that are smelling up beaches.
    Taylor Wilson, USA TODAY, 19 June 2023
  • The investigation, much like the mass die-off of the bees, was unique, Cooper said.
    Caleb Lunetta, San Diego Union-Tribune, 19 Jan. 2024
  • All of this can add up to a mass die-off, driven by the changes in how energy moves through ecosystems.
    WIRED, 8 Nov. 2023
  • This summer’s die-off happened to both wild elkhorn and to corals bred to be more heat-tolerant.
    Eric Zerkel, CNN, 8 Oct. 2023
  • What’s more, some die-offs are impossible to detect at all.
    Marion Renault, The New Republic, 3 May 2023
  • Yellow spots, sudden die-off of isolated patches of the lawn ...
    Paul Cappiello, The Courier-Journal, 21 July 2023
  • Cows largely recover from H5N1, unlike the mass die-offs seen in other species.
    Alexander Tin, CBS News, 3 May 2024
  • Western red cedar, western hemlock and big leaf maple have all seen die-offs and growth declines in recent years tied to climate.
    Nathan Gilles, Fortune, 28 Dec. 2023
  • But the recent die-off of salmon fry was unintentional.
    Sarah Kuta, Smithsonian Magazine, 8 Mar. 2024
  • Florida has been seeing sea surface records at hot tub settings, leading to massive die-off of coral in the Keys.
    William Booth, Washington Post, 1 Aug. 2023
  • On the state’s east coast, decades of sewage and fertilizer pollution had led to a mass die-off of seagrass, which the animals rely on for food.
    Jason Gulley Catrin Einhorn, New York Times, 7 Mar. 2024
  • The Oregon incident comes on the heels of a mass Chinook salmon smolt die-off in Northern California.
    Sarah Kuta, Smithsonian Magazine, 5 Apr. 2024
  • Bees in the wild have succumbed to a planet-wide die-off, taking almonds, avocados and honey down with them.
    Jesse Green, New York Times, 13 Feb. 2024
  • The pollution blew onto the ridge, causing a massive vegetation die-off and leading to a decades-long cleanup.
    Lizzie Johnson and Lauren Tierney, Anchorage Daily News, 27 July 2023
  • Scientists have warned that the heat wave could trigger mass die-offs of coral, which could have profound implications for marine ecosystems in the area.
    Denise Chow, NBC News, 28 July 2023
  • Authorities are also studying whether a biotoxin or virus might be causing the die-off.
    Diana Durán, Washington Post, 4 Oct. 2023
  • This further bolsters the theory that a weather event triggered their die-off, rather than mass starvation brought on by a prolonged drought, per the New York Times.
    Sarah Kuta, Smithsonian Magazine, 30 Aug. 2023
  • But the water around Florida and the Caribbean this summer was up to 3 degrees Celsius above normal, causing mass bleaching and the die-off, Williamson said.
    Eric Zerkel, CNN, 8 Oct. 2023
  • Multiple factors contributed to the accelerating die-off of these groups in the past decade.
    Jeff Goldsmith, STAT, 17 Jan. 2024
  • Since that mass urchin die-off, only 12 percent of the original population has been restored—and urchins and coral reefs alike have suffered as a result.
    Carolyn Hagler, Smithsonian Magazine, 8 May 2023
  • The dramatic die-offs were largely attributed to drought, disease and insects such as bark beetles, which prey on weakened trees.
    Hayley Smith, Los Angeles Times, 15 Aug. 2023
  • The effects of a mass coral die-off could be devastating, as 25% of all marine life, including dolphins, turtles and sharks, depend on the reef for survival.
    Julia Jacobo, ABC News, 20 July 2023
  • Bleaching events are becoming more frequent, putting corals on a path for a mass die-off by the end of the century if the planet warms more than 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit).
    Ryan Kellman, NPR, 17 Apr. 2024
  • Corals are more likely to experience die-offs during these bleaching events.
    Laura Baisas, Popular Science, 26 July 2023
  • In Florida Bay in the 1980s, a lack of freshwater funneling into the harbor caused a spike in salinity levels and seagrass die-off.
    Robin Catalano, Smithsonian Magazine, 12 June 2023
  • Read full article Sixty-six million years ago, Earth’s great dinosaur die-off was followed by a massive fungal bloom.
    Jennifer Latner, BostonGlobe.com, 20 July 2023
  • Millions of birds will have nowhere to go on their migration across the planet, potentially leading to mass die-offs and endangered species listings.
    Leia Larsen, The Salt Lake Tribune, 18 Sep. 2023
  • Of course—as Big Think points out—the data may not fully support a massive die-off of visitors, but there’s still enough reason to believe that entering King Tut’s tomb wasn’t the best thing for a person’s health.
    Tim Newcomb, Popular Mechanics, 9 May 2023
  • The die-off, the biggest in living memory, quickly led to an investigation.
    Norimitsu Onishi, New York Times, 30 Aug. 2023
  • But shallow, warm waters could also fuel botulism outbreaks and mass die-offs, The Times’ Susanne Rust reports.
    Sammy Roth, Los Angeles Times, 6 June 2023
Advertisement

die off

2 of 2 verb
  • Through tonight: Gusty breezes will die off through the evening and into the night.
    Ian Livingston, Washington Post, 8 Aug. 2023
  • There’s a reason most of those types of point-and-shoots died off.
    Antonio G. Di Benedetto, The Verge, 11 May 2023
  • As summer ends, the queens stop laying eggs and the colony starts to die off.
    René A. Guzman, ExpressNews.com, 1 Sep. 2020
  • The next 24 hours are a lot like the last, although with some luck that wind will die off a bit over time.
    Washington Post, 18 Oct. 2021
  • Much of the sea grass being restored will die off again.
    Time, 12 July 2023
  • The cells can then die off early, which leads to anemia.
    Laura Baisas, Popular Science, 16 Nov. 2023
  • But the membership began to decline in the 2010s as the old-timers died off.
    Deborah Netburn, Los Angeles Times, 14 June 2023
  • Winds die off a good deal with sunset, then wane further through the night.
    Ian Livingston, Washington Post, 29 Mar. 2024
  • These strong gusts will then die off by Sunday evening.
    Gerry Díaz, San Francisco Chronicle, 21 Oct. 2022
  • Storms will be most likely from 1 p.m. through the evening hours and should die off later tonight.
    Leigh Morgan, al, 16 May 2022
  • Winds die off a bit as temperatures fall to a range across the 40s for lows.
    Ian Livingston, Washington Post, 14 Oct. 2023
  • Since then, she’s watched the forests completely die off.
    NBC News, 21 Sep. 2021
  • Sometimes an organ gives up the ghost while the mind is spared and sometimes the mind starts to die off, while the body is fine.
    Amy Dickinson, oregonlive, 3 Oct. 2020
  • If nests are too warm and larvae die off, that affects the entire colony.
    Sarah Kuta, Smithsonian Magazine, 6 May 2024
  • The cells then die off early, leaving a lack of healthy red blood cells, or anemia.
    WIRED, 16 Nov. 2023
  • With the advent of the New Deal and the social-welfare state, the machines began to die off, and the police were on their own.
    Kevin Baker, Harper's Magazine, 18 Aug. 2020
  • Since then, the coronavirus has been shown to die off in the presence of UV rays with the same wavelength as sunlight.
    Rachel Gutman, The Atlantic, 20 Nov. 2021
  • Her models show that without change, the colony will die off within 50 years.
    Terry Spencer, ajc, 30 Mar. 2022
  • Through tonight: Winds die off with the sunset while skies remain mostly clear.
    Ian Livingston, Washington Post, 21 Mar. 2024
  • Other species may not be able to outrun the rapid changes in their habitat and could simply die off.
    Elizabeth Rayne, Ars Technica, 14 Nov. 2023
  • When the water is warm from late spring though the early fall, the bite stays strong in the mornings but usually dies off around 10 a.m.
    Shaye Baker, Field & Stream, 18 Apr. 2023
  • Fortunately, winds die off during the day, taking the edge off the chill.
    David Streit, Washington Post, 16 Feb. 2023
  • Once the army of white blood cells and their antibody foot soldiers have defeated the virus, most die off.
    Allysia Finley, WSJ, 17 Jan. 2022
  • Storms will tend to die off with sunset, leaving clearing skies overnight.
    Ian Livingston, Washington Post, 1 July 2022
  • Those species could then die off due to a lack of repopulation.
    Joshua Hawkins, BGR, 17 Mar. 2022
  • After the fruit has been harvested from a pineapple plant, the mother plant begins to die off.
    Grace Haynes, Southern Living, 11 Mar. 2024
  • After adult salmon have spawned and died off in the fall, the Yurok people rely on the long, ugly fish for sustenance in the winter months.
    oregonlive, 17 June 2023
  • Both of these plants are winter annuals, so will die off on their own by summer.
    Miri Talabac, Baltimore Sun, 23 Mar. 2022
  • After infection is cleared, most of the B cells that rallied to the fore will die off, their life purpose fulfilled.
    Katherine J. Wu, The Atlantic, 12 Feb. 2021
  • This particular trope about Biden and Ukraine and the bribe that wasn’t is unlikely to die off swiftly.
    Susan B. Glasser, The New Yorker, 22 Feb. 2024

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'die-off.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Last Updated: