decay
/diˈkeɪ/ verb B2- To deteriorate, to get worse, to lose strength or health, to decline in quality. · The pair loved to take pictures in the decaying hospital on forty-third street.
- To undergo bit rot, that is, gradual degradation.
- To undergo software rot, that is, to fail to be updated in a changing environment, so as to eventually become legacy or obsolete.
- To undergo prolonged reduction in altitude (above the orbited body).
- To rot, to go bad. · The cat's body decayed rapidly.
- To change by undergoing fission, by emitting radiation, or by capturing or losing one or more electrons; to undergo radioactive decay.
- To undergo optical decay, that is, to relax to a less excited state, usually by emitting a photon or phonon.
- Loss of airspeed due to drag.
He/she/it decays · Past decayed · Past participle decayed · -ing form decaying
Verb forms
- Base form
- decay
- He/she/it
- decays
- Past
- decayed
- Past participle
- decayed
- -ing form
- decaying
From the library
He seized him boldly by the ear, but could not retain his hold because of the decay of his teeth, so that the boar escaped.
The house had been untenanted for some years and was threatening to moulder into a picturesque decay when the Douglases took possession of it.
Trees had grown into and out of the walls; the battlements were tumbled down and decayed, and wild creepers hung out of the windows of the towers on the walls in bushy hanging clumps.
An odour of age and decay pervaded the whole crumbling building.
Other matches
Learn decay in real texts
With a free account, hover any word in the library for its meaning, hear it read aloud, save words for review timed to your memory, and see how much of each book you already know.