decay
Part of speech: noun
verb
Morphological type: simple
Topics: aeronautics
aerospace
aviation
biology
business
chemistry
computing
electrical-engineering
electricity
electromagnetism
electronics
energy
engineering
mathematics
natural-sciences
physical-sciences
physics
programming
sciences
Etymology: From Middle English decaien (“to decrease, diminish”) and decai (“deterioration, decline in value”), from Anglo-Norman decaeir (“to fall away, decay, decline”), from Vulgar Latin *dēcadere, etymologically restored form of Latin dēcidere (“to fall down, to fail, sink or perish”), from de- (“of, from, away, down”) + cadere (“to fall”). Compare decadent and decadence.
Inflected forms:
form: decays
pos: noun
tags: plural
form: decays
pos: verb
tags: present
singular
third-person
form: decaying
pos: verb
tags: participle
present
form: decayed
pos: verb
tags: participle
past
form: decayed
pos: verb
tags: past
Senses:
gloss: Rot; any processes or result of organic matter being gradually decomposed, especially by microbial action.
pos: noun
tags: uncountable
usually
examples: tooth decay/dental decay—wood-decay fungi—bacterial decay—photochemical decay
I fancied at first the stuff was paraffin wax, and smashed the jar accordingly. But the odor of camphor was unmistakable. It struck me as singularly odd, that among the universal decay, this volatile substance had chanced to survive, perhaps through many thousand years.
He spent himself, the labour of his axe,
And leave it there far from a useful fireplace
To warm the frozen swamp as best it could
With the slow smokeless burning of decay.
gloss: Deterioration of condition; loss of status, quality, strength, or fortune.
pos: noun
tags: uncountable
usually
examples: civic and moral decay—systemic decay—fall into decay—urban decay—arrested decay—memory decay
Although the best room of the inn, it had the melancholy aspect of grandeur in decay, and was much too vast for comfort.
gloss: Radioactive decay; decomposition of an atom or its nucleus.
pos: noun
tags: uncountable
usually
examples: alpha decay—gamma decay—fission decay—decay chain
gloss: Particle decay; decomposition of a sub-atomic particle.
pos: noun
tags: uncountable
usually
gloss: Continuous decrease of a quantity.
pos: noun
tags: uncountable
usually
examples: exponential decay—decay rate—orbital decay—decay time—decay constant—time decay
gloss: Overthrow, destruction, ruin, death.
pos: noun
tags: obsolete
uncountable
usually
examples: Let’s cheere our ſouldiers to incounter him,
That grieuous image of ingratitude:
That fiery thirſter after Soueraigntie: […]
Reſolue my Lords and louing ſouldiers now,
To ſaue your king and country from decay:
gloss: Array decay.
pos: noun
tags: uncountable
usually
gloss: To deteriorate, to get worse, to lose strength or health, to decline in quality.
pos: verb
tags: intransitive
examples: The pair loved to take pictures in the decaying hospital on forty-third street.
"The signalling at Salisbury has be replaced for safety reasons in the next handful of years. It's worn out. Last week, there was a signal cable issue near Tisbury that stopped proper running for four whole days. The system is decaying.
gloss: To deteriorate, to get worse, to lose strength or health, to decline in quality.
pos: verb
tags: intransitive
gloss: To deteriorate, to get worse, to lose strength or health, to decline in quality.
pos: verb
tags: intransitive
gloss: To deteriorate, to get worse, to lose strength or health, to decline in quality.
pos: verb
tags: intransitive
examples: Damaged on lift-off, Skylab was left in orbit until its orbit decayed.
gloss: To rot, to go bad.
pos: verb
tags: intransitive
examples: The cat's body decayed rapidly.
The largest tree known to us is at Syon (Plate 124), which in 1904 was no less than 60 feet in height by 7 feet in girth and still a fine tree, though its trunk is decaying inside.
gloss: To change by undergoing fission, by emitting radiation, or by capturing or losing one or more electrons; to undergo radioactive decay.
pos: verb
tags: intransitive
transitive
examples: Uranium decays to radium through a long series of steps with a cumulative half-life of 4.4 billion years.
gloss: To undergo optical decay, that is, to relax to a less excited state, usually by emitting a photon or phonon.
pos: verb
tags: intransitive
transitive
gloss: Loss of airspeed due to drag.
pos: verb
tags: intransitive
gloss: To cause to rot or deteriorate.
pos: verb
tags: transitive
examples: The extreme humidity decayed the wooden sculptures in the museum's collection in a matter of years.
Infirmity, that decays the wise.
gloss: Of an array: to lose its type and dimensions and be reduced to a pointer, for example when passed to a function.
pos: verb
tags: intransitive
Synonyms: fester
Related words: deciduous
Derived words: alpha decay
array decay
arrested decay
bacterial decay
beta decay
biodecay
bit decay
c-decay
decayability
decayable
decay chain
decay constant
decayer
decayless
decaylessness
decay series
decay time
delta decay
dental decay
digital decay
exponential decay
gamma decay
nonsense-mediated decay
non-stop decay
nuclear decay
orbital decay
particle decay
photodecay
platform decay
predecay
radioactive decay
semidecay
time decay
tooth decay
urban decay
vacuum decay
volatility decay
weight decay
decayingly
nondecaying
semidecaying
undecaying
Translations:
lang: Arabic
word: اضمحل
lang: Arabic
word: تضعضع
lang: Armenian
word: փչանալ
roman: pʻčʻanal
lang: Bulgarian
word: разлагам се
roman: razlagam se
lang: Bulgarian
word: развалям се
roman: razvaljam se
lang: Catalan
word: deteriorar-se
lang: Catalan
word: fer-se malbé
lang: Czech
word: rozkládat se
lang: Danish
word: brydes ned
lang: Danish
word: nedbrydes
lang: Danish
word: forfalde
lang: Danish
word: henfalde
lang: Dutch
word: vervallen
lang: Dutch
word: in verval raken
lang: Dutch
word: verloederen
lang: Esperanto
word: kadukiĝi
lang: Finnish
word: heikentyä
lang: Finnish
word: rapautua
lang: Finnish
word: rappeutua
lang: Finnish
word: heiketä
lang: French
word: pourrir
lang: Georgian
word: ფუჭდება
roman: puč̣deba
lang: German
word: verfallen
lang: German
word: verderben
lang: Hungarian
word: elpusztul
lang: Hungarian
word: tönkremegy
lang: Irish
word: meath
lang: Irish
word: meathlaigh
lang: Korean
word: 부패하다
roman: bupaehada
lang: Malayalam
word: ജീർണ്ണിക്കുക
roman: jīṟṇṇikkuka
lang: Māori
word: taimate
lang: Māori
word: koropungapunga
lang: Persian
word: تباهیدن
roman: tabâhidan
lang: Persian
word: واپاشیدن
roman: vâpâšidan
lang: Portuguese
word: decompor-se
lang: Portuguese
word: deteriorar
lang: Romanian
word: descompune
lang: Russian
word: по́ртиться
roman: pórtitʹsja
lang: Russian
word: ухудша́ться
roman: uxudšátʹsja
lang: Spanish
word: decaer
lang: Spanish
word: periclitar
lang: Spanish
word: descaecer
lang: Swedish
word: mattas
lang: Swedish
word: försämras
lang: Swedish
word: förfalla
lang: Swedish
word: tackla av
lang: Turkish
word: fenalaşmak