decay
verb
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Definition of decay
(Entry 1 of 2)
decay
nounDefinition of decay (Entry 2 of 2)
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Synonyms & Antonyms for decay
Synonyms: Verb
break down, corrupt, decompose, disintegrate, fester, foul, mold, molder, perish [chiefly British], putrefy, rot, spoil
Synonyms: Noun
debilitation, decaying, declension, decline, degeneration, descent, deterioration, ebbing, enfeeblement, weakening
Antonyms: Noun
comeback, improvement, rally, recovery, recuperation, rehabilitation, revitalization, snapback
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Examples of decay in a Sentence
Verb
the smell of decaying rubbish dead plants and leaves decayed by bacteria She believes that the moral fiber of our society is decaying. our decaying public school system The city's neighborhoods are decaying.Noun
the decay of dead plants and leaves She writes about the moral decay of our society. the patient's physical and mental decay The city's neighborhoods are in slow decay.
Recent Examples on the Web: Verb
For the past 200 years or more, Earth’s magnetic field has been decaying at a rate of five percent each century. — Emily Toomey, Smithsonian, "Earth’s Magnetic Field Could Take Longer to Flip Than Previously Thought," 8 Aug. 2019 Thatch is an inch or so of stems that are not decaying and which prevent water going into the lawn and new blades of grass growing out of it. — Jeff Lowenfels, Anchorage Daily News, "Last year’s garden did great. This year, it did nothing. What went wrong?," 1 Aug. 2019 Joan Didion, in her thoughtful tracing of disparate lives, proves a useful guide in examining the roots from which American civil life has decayed. — Mary Spencer, National Review, "What Joan Didion Saw," 29 June 2019 Preserving your home movies, entombed in rapidly-decaying VHS tapes, by converting them into digital files is a thoughtful (and often tear-jerking) way to do that. — Cameron Faulkner, The Verge, "How to make digital copies of your VHS tapes," 21 July 2019 Water laps decaying piers on one side of the building, while low-slung brick buildings that once housed lighthouse equipment are on another. — New York Times, "Now That’s a City View," 19 July 2019 In terms of magnitude and number of quakes, Abreu said the Ridgecrest sequence has actually decayed faster than expected, but the variation isn't unusual for the geological setting. — Kristin Lam, USA TODAY, "Is 'The Big One' next? California was shaking again Tuesday, with three earthquakes of 3.5 or greater," 16 July 2019 Seguin Police Chief Terry Nichols said that the charge stemmed from Crayton allowing her daughter to live in a home where her mother's body was decaying, according to the Express-News. — Dallas News, "Texas woman lived with her mother's skeletal remains for 3 years, police say," 15 July 2019 Fruit and vegetables soon decay because mold and bacteria know how to turn away other potential consumers. — Anna K. Behrensmeyer, Smithsonian, "How Do Fossils Form?," 8 June 2019Recent Examples on the Web: Noun
Moreover, Ibsen had offered a scathing indictment of Norwegian society’s oppressive social strictures and its moral decay to protect those social norms. —