Some people find it difficult to say that someone has died, so they may turn to metaphors for death instead. These metaphors for dying can help you share that someone has died with softer and gentler language. However, some metaphors for death are humorous and even irreverent, and people may use them in situations where it's appropriate to make jokes.
Common Metaphors for Death
There are many common euphemisms and metaphors for death that people use to soften their words when discussing it. These types of death metaphors often offer some kind of hope or comfort.
- Beyond the veil: Existence beyond death
- Breathed their last breath: Stopped breathing and died
- Crossed over: Soul leaving the physical world for ethereal/spirit world
- Deceased: No longer exists
- Departed: Left, as in deceased, left this world
- Didn't make it: Didn't survive and died
- Expired: No longer breathing, dead
- Faded away: Person grew weaker and slowly died
- In a better place: Heaven
- It was their time: Allotted time spent
- Late: Posthumous as the late Mister James
- Lost the battle: Signifies battle with a disease
- Lost their life: No longer living
- Met their maker: Standing before God
- Not with us anymore/no longer with us: No longer living in the physical
- On the other side: Not living; in Heaven
- Paid the ultimate price: Sacrificed their life
- Perished: Died
- Passed away or passed on: Euphemism for having moved on to another life
- Resting in peace: Long sleep of death
- Resting in power: Long sleep of death for someone who was dedicated to activism or died due to oppression
- Slipped away: The quiet death of someone lingering between life and death
- Succumbed: Gave in to death
- Unalived themself: Common description of suicide
- Was called home: Home in Heaven
- Was not long for this world: Death was only a matter of time
- We lost them: Signifies personal loss in death
If you choose to use a metaphor or euphemism for death, make sure it's one that's appropriate to the situation.
Metaphors About Dying
Sometimes, we describe death in terms of travel. And it makes sense since death probably does seem a little like traveling from one place (in your body) to another (Heaven).
- Gone to the last roundup: Cowboy metaphor
- Gone west: Direction of setting sun
- Headed the Promised Land: Heaven
- Rejoined the Source: Left their body and returned to energy
- Returned to God: Left their body and joined God
- Returned to the Source: Left their body and returned to energy
- Rode off into the sunset: Died
- Went home: Returned to Heaven
- Went home in a box: Died away from home and shipped home in a coffin
- Went home to Jesus: Christian reference of returning to Heaven to Jesus
- Went into the Light: God's Light to Heaven
- Went to Davy Jones's locker: Drowned
- Went to that big place in the sky: Heaven
- Went to their glory: Died, and returned to Heaven
- Went to their reward: Reaping afterlife rewards
- Went to the Pearly Gates: Reference to Heaven
Funny or Irreverent Death Metaphor Examples
If you decide that a humorous death metaphor is appropriate, make sure those you are saying it to will appreciate your sense of humor. Some funny metaphors for death are subtle, while others are very direct.
- Belly up: Animal dead on its back
- Bite the dust: Fall dead onto the ground
- Bought the farm: Die in an accident; military
- Candle snuffed out: End of life
- Checked out: Left this world
- Choir eternal: Joined the angelic choir
- Counting worms: Buried and worms assisting in decomposing
- Dead as a doornail: Nonanimated object not alive
- Deleted: Modern technological metaphor for gone
- Done for: Lost, no hope, dead
- Gave up the ghost: Released their soul
- Kicked the bucket: Old term related to the slaughter of pigs
- Knockin' on Heaven's door: Gone to Heaven
- Now fertilizer: Human body decomposing back to Earth
- Pulled the plug: Euphemism for stopping lifesaving medical devices
- Pushing up daisies: Dead and buried
- Six feet under: Refers to traditional burial depth
- Sleeping with the fishes: Killed and body dumped in the ocean
- Taking a dirt nap: Refers to being buried
- Terminated: Life ended
- They're history: No present or future life
- Toes turned up: Position of toes when lying dead on back
- Was capped: Refers to a fitting climax
- Worm food: Buried
Metaphors for Death in Poetry
Poetry is aided by metaphors for describing death with prose. You can find some very eloquent examples of death metaphors in well-known poems or prose.
- Crossing Jordan: The metaphor is taken from the Bible in reference to crossing the River Jordan into the Promised Land.
- Night's Plutonian shore: In The Raven, Edgar Allen Poe explores death and grief through various metaphors, including the mention of Night's Plutonian shore, which is the underworld, and the Raven, a bird that symbolizes death and grief.
- Passing the sandbar: A poem by Tennyson (1809-1892) describes passing from this world to the next, using the metaphor of a sailor crossing a sandbar into the open sea: "I hope to see my Pilot face to face When I have crossed the bar."
- Rush to the secret house: This death metaphor is found in Shakespeare's (1564-1616) play, The Tragedie of Anthonie, and Cleopatra, "To rush into the secret house of death."
- Taking the carriage ride: Because I Could Not Stop for Death, by Emily Dickinson (1830-1886): "Because I could not stop for Death - He kindly stopped for me-" describes taking a last carriage ride with Death as the driver.
- Untimely frost: The metaphor is taken from a line in Shakespeare's play, Romeo and Juliet": "Death lies on her like an untimely frost."
- Wake eternally: Is a metaphor derived from the poem, Death Be Not Proud," by John Donne (1572-1631). In the poem, Donne takes on death and ends with: "Death, thou shalt die."
Metaphors for Death
Using metaphors and alternate phrases for death helps people ease the discomfort about discussing what is truly the great unknown. These metaphors are a few of the many ways people talk about dying without using the word death.
