Antonyms for decay
dɪˈkeɪde·cay

English Synonyms and AntonymsRate these synonyms:2.0 / 2 votes

1. decay

   Rot is a strong word, ordinarily esteemed coarse, but on occasion capable of approved emphatic use; as, "the name of the wicked shall rot," Prov. x, 7; decay and decompose are now common euphemisms. A substance is decomposed when resolved into its original elements by any process; it is decayed when resolved into its original elements by natural processes; it decays gradually, but may be instantly decomposed, as water into oxygen and hydrogen; to say that a thing is decayed may denote only a partial result, but to say it is decomposed ordinarily implies that the change is complete or nearly so. Putrefy and the adjectives putrid and putrescent, and the nouns putridity and putrescence, are used almost exclusively of animal matter in a state of decomposition, the more general word decay being used of either animal or vegetable substances.

   Synonyms:
   corrupt, decompose, molder, putrefy, rot, spoil

Complete Dictionary of Synonyms and AntonymsRate these synonyms:1.3 / 3 votes

1. decayverb

   Antonyms:
   rise, grow, increase, flourish, luxuriate, vegetate, expand, enlarge

   Synonyms:
   decline, wane, sink, dwindle, rot, wither, perish, waste, ebb, decrease

2. decaynoun

   Antonyms:
   rise, growth, birth, increase, fertility, exuberance, luxuriance, prosperity

   Synonyms:
   declension, waning, sinking, wasting, decrease, corruption, decadence, putrefaction, rottenness, dry rot, consumption, decline

Matched Categories

1. • Change
   • Natural Process
   • Organic Phenomenon
   • Unsoundness

Princeton's WordNetRate these antonyms:2.1 / 7 votes

1. decaynoun

   the process of gradually becoming inferior

   Synonyms:
   disintegration, decomposition, radioactive decay, decline

2. decay, declinenoun

   a gradual decrease; as of stored charge or current

   Synonyms:
   disintegration, fall, downslope, descent, radioactive decay, decomposition, declension, decline, declivity, declination, diminution

3. decay, decompositionnoun

   the organic phenomenon of rotting

   Synonyms:
   disintegration, chemical decomposition reaction, decomposition, putrefaction, radioactive decay, vector decomposition, decline, rot, rotting, decomposition reaction

4. decaynoun

   an inferior state resulting from the process of decaying

   "the corpse was in an advanced state of decay"; "the house had fallen into a serious state of decay and disrepair"

   Synonyms:
   disintegration, decomposition, radioactive decay, decline

5. decay, radioactive decay, disintegrationverb

   the spontaneous disintegration of a radioactive substance along with the emission of ionizing radiation

   Synonyms:
   disintegration, decomposition, radioactive decay, decline, annihilation, dissolution

6. disintegrate, decay, decomposeverb

   lose a stored charge, magnetic flux, or current

   "the particles disintegrated during the nuclear fission process"

   Synonyms:
   break down, break up, moulder, disintegrate, decompose, molder, dilapidate, crumble, rot

7. decay, crumble, dilapidateverb

   fall into decay or ruin

   "The unoccupied house started to decay"

   Synonyms:
   break down, dilapidate, decompose, crumple, disintegrate, tumble, collapse, crumble, fall apart

8. decayverb

   undergo decay or decomposition

   "The body started to decay and needed to be cremated"

   Synonyms:
   crumble, decompose, dilapidate, disintegrate

Synonyms, Antonyms & Associated WordsRate these synonyms:0.0 / 0 votes

1. decaynoun

   Synonyms:
   deterioration, corruption, decline, decadence, senescence, retrogradation, decomposition, caducity, putrefaction, putrescence, rot, eremacausis

2. decayverb

   Synonyms:
   decline, retrograde, deteriorate, rot, decompose, putrefy, moulder

How to use decay in a sentence?

1. John Dryden:

   All human things are subject to decay, and when fate summons, monarchs must obey.

2. Longfellow:

   How absolute and omnipotent is the silence of the night! And yet the stillness seems almost audible. From all the measureless depths of air around us comes a half sound, a half whisper, as if we could hear the crumbling and falling away of the earth and all created things in the great miracle of nature?decay and reproduction?ever beginning, never ending?the gradual lapse and running of the sand in the great hour-glass of Time.

3. Rhonda Kalasho:

   This acidity weakens enamel making it a lot more prone to staining, tooth decay and breakage.

4. Secretary Wilkie:

   Once again the halls of Congress reverberate with odes to rugged individualism, state sovereignty, and contempt for the centralized super-state, these are bloodless battles Jefferson Davis could never fight but, they are no less vital for the future of American civilization. As our cities decay and our standards and spiritual traditions deteriorate, America is searching for a better way. Walker Percy urged us to look South to recover community, stability, and sense of place in God's order which we have regrettably lost. That is a tall proposition but it is certainly one Jefferson Davis would understand and certainly one for which Jefferson Davis would fight.

5. Donald S. McAlvaney:

   In every declining civilization there is a small ‘remnant’ of people who adhere to the right against the wrong, who recognize the difference between good and evil and who will take an active stand for the former and against the latter; who can still think and discern and who will courageously take a stand against the political, social, moral, and spiritual rot or decay of their day.

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