Synonyms 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

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

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

2. decaynoun

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

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

Princeton's WordNetRate these synonyms: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

Matched Categories

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

Dictionary of English SynonymesRate these synonyms:0.0 / 0 votes

1. decayverb

   Synonyms:
   decline, fail, deteriorate, wither, waste, perish, be impaired, waste away, fall into decay

2. decayverb

   Synonyms:
   rot, putrefy, be spoiled

3. decaynoun

   Synonyms:
   decline, decadence, deterioration, degeneracy

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

PPDB, the paraphrase databaseRate these paraphrases:0.0 / 0 votes

1. List of paraphrases for "decay":

   decomposition, disintegration, rot, decadence, degradation, break-up, decline, breakdown, deterioration, degeneration, decomposing

How to pronounce decay?

How to say decay in sign language?

Words popularity by usage frequency

How to use decay in a sentence?

1. Eric Hoffer:

   Our achievements speak for themselves. What we have to keep track of are our failures, discouragements and doubts. We tend to forget the past difficulties, the many false starts, and the painful groping. We see our past achievements as the end results of a clean forward thrust, and our present difficulties as signs of decline and decay.

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. Alan Simpson:

   A society like ours, which professes no one religion and has allowed all religions to decay, which indulges freedom to the point of license and individualism to the point of anarchy, needs all the support that responsible, cultivated homes can furnish. I hope your generation will provide a firmer shelter for civilized standards.

4. Derrick Hom:

   It appears that decay in the structural members probably played a role.

5. Oliver Goldsmith:

   Ill fares the land, to hast'ning ill a prey, Where wealth accumulates, and men decay Princes and Lords may flourish, or may fade A breath can make them, as a breath has made but a bold peasantry, their country's pride, When once destroyed can never be supplied.