at death's door

ADJECTIVE

dying

Synonyms

STRONGEST

decaying doomed fading moribund

STRONG

declining disintegrating ebbing fated final going mortal passing perishing sinking vanishing withering

WEAK

at end of rope done for giving up the ghost in extremis on last leg one foot in grave

Antonyms

STRONG

permanent

WEAK

creating developing growing living reviving

ADJECTIVE

moribund

Synonyms

WEAK

at the end of the rope declining done for doomed expiring fading fated going mortal mortally ill on one's deathbed on one's last leg one foot in the grave passing perishing

ADJECTIVE

terminally ill

Synonyms

WEAK

in critical condition on one's deathbed on the critical list

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

"She was at death's door, and she knew I could write, so she asked me to write her an elegy if the worst came to the worst."

From BBC • Nov. 10, 2025

They want to let patients like Zurawski obtain lifesaving care before they are actually at death’s door.

From Slate • Mar. 7, 2023

There was something different happening here: the ex-con at death’s door coming clean with his regrets.

From Seattle Times • Sep. 8, 2021

Premature grief is the specter hovering over war-torn Yemen’s famine cases — malnourished children at death’s door — in Skye Fitzgerald’s latest dispatch from the Middle East, “Hunger Ward.”

From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 1, 2021

Madame closed her eyes and thrashed as if she were at death’s door.

From "The Long-Lost Home" by Maryrose Wood

at death's door

Example Sentences

Related Words