Meaning & use
decease
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Meanings
noununcountableformallegal
A person's death, in formal or legal wording.
Grammar: Uncountable and usually after the or his/her: upon his decease.
Patterns
- upon someone's decease
- since the decease of someone
The land passed to his daughter upon his decease.
Notice of her decease was sent to the family solicitor.
Since the decease of the owner, the shop has been closed.
verbintransitiveformalrare
To die, used in formal or legal wording.
Grammar: No object, and rare outside law: the deceased man; he deceased in May.
The testator deceased before the will was signed by the second witness.
Heirs inherit if the owner should decease without leaving a spouse.
Word forms
| third person singular | deceases |
|---|---|
| past tense | deceased |
| past participle | deceased |
| -ing form | deceasing |
Common combinations
- upon decease
- The house will be sold upon decease.
- date of decease
- The form asks for the date of decease.
- before decease
- He settled his affairs before decease.
- the decease of
- The decease of the founder changed the firm.
Synonyms and how they differ
- death
- Death is the everyday word and works in every context, while decease only appears in legal or official text.
- demise
- Demise is also formal, but can describe the end of a company or idea as well as a person.
- passing
- Passing is a gentler, more polite expression used in conversation, whereas decease is administrative.
Opposites
Word family
- deceased adjective
- dead; also used as a noun for the dead person in legal contexts
- the deceased noun
- the person who has died
- predecease verb
- to die before another person
Commonly confused: decease or disease?
decease vs disease
Disease is an illness and is pronounced differently, with a z sound. Decease is about death.
Practice
The will states that the property passes to his niece upon his ___.
Choose one answer.
Decease means death, which is when property in a will is passed on. Disease is an illness, and decrease means a reduction.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “decease”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.