Learn English – “Vanish into thin air” and “disappear without trace”

idiomsmeaningword-choice

I can understand the construction like the following with vanish and disappear.

  • The money vanished from my wallet.
  • Money seems to vanish into a black hole.
  • A strange light appeared and vanished into the darkness again.
  • The sun disappeared behind a cloud.
  • His sudden disappearance is very worrying.

In the following sentence,

All the chocolates vanished away in no time at all.

what if the adverb away used with the verb vanished is dropped? It appears to be redundant.

Both of the idiomatic phrases vanish into thing air and disappear without trace appear to mean "vanish all of a sudden in a way that seems impossible or in a way that cannot be explained or at least difficult to explain", such as

  • When the hunter looked again, the bear had already vanished into thin air.
  • The plane disappeared without trace and no survivors were ever found.

How much does it make a difference, if the first sentence is given "disappeared without trace" and the second one is given "vanished into thin air"?

Moreover, the indefinite article a is quite less frequently seen with disappear without trace such as disappear without a trace. Does the article a have its own meaning in some contexts or it's just optional?

Best Answer

For me, "disappeared without a trace" and "vanished into thin air" mean the same thing.

"Disappeared without trace" seems ungrammatical in American English. I don't know about other brands. Could it be like "He's in hospital"?

"All the chocolates vanished away in no time at all" seems not idiomatic to me because of away. Lewis Carroll, however, used it in The Hunting of the Snark:

I engage with the Snark -- every night after dark --
In a dreamy, delirious fight.
I serve it with greens in those shadowy scenes,
And I use it for striking a light.

But if ever I meet with a Boojum, that day,
In a moment (of this I am sure)
I shall softly and silently vanish away --
And the notion I cannot endure!

Whether this was just for the rhyme (and, therefore, poetic license) or was (and maybe still is) idiomatic British English, I don't know.

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