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.

He added that an Israeli invasion of the city would "leave an already fragile humanitarian operation at death's door".

From BBC • Feb. 13, 2024

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

And those who were hospitalized were not necessarily Covid-19 holdouts, so fearful of contagion that they came only when they were at death’s door.

From New York Times • Oct. 20, 2020

Rumors had appeared in newspapers that I was at death’s door and she had become quite concerned.

From "Long Walk to Freedom" by Nelson Mandela

at death's door

Example Sentences

Related Words