death throes.

1. The painful, often forceful struggles of a dying person or animal, or the final collapse of something.

2. The last, often violent period in the failure or disappearance of an institution, system, or movement.

Use it for

Words that belong together

• in its death throes
• enter the death throes
• final death throes
• a regime in its death throes
• a movement’s death throes
• enter its death throes

On the page

The old generator shuddered through its death throes before the lights went out.

The old order was in its death throes, though its officials still issued decrees.

Usage notes

The phrase is conventionally plural (“throes”); figurative use marks an intense terminal phase, not any ordinary decline. Sense 2: The figurative sense is forceful and dramatic; avoid using it for a minor setback or routine transition.