surprise attack/ inspection, vanish

Senior U.S. officials say the sinking of a South Korean warship revealed that years of spending had still left the country vulnerable to surprise attack.


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Decades of Economic Gains Vanish for Blacks in Memphis
By MICHAEL POWELL
The combination of growing foreclosures and rising unemployment have destroyed black wealth and income and erased two decades of slow progress.


vanish
intr.v., -ished, -ish·ing, -ish·es.

1. 1. To pass out of sight, especially quickly; disappear. See synonyms at disappear.
   2. To pass out of existence.
2. Mathematics. To become zero. Used of a function or variable.

[Middle English vanisshen, alteration of Old French esvanir, esvaniss-, from Vulgar Latin *exvanīre, alteration of Latin ēvānēscere : ē-, ex-, ex- + vānēscere, to vanish (from vānus, empty).]

vanisher van'ish·er n.
vanishingly van'ish·ing·ly adv.
vanishment van'ish·ment n.