Decay
noun
The process of becoming worse, weaker, or of less quality over time.
The paint on the wall started to show signs of decay after a few years.
Often appears as...
- show signs of decay
- rapid decay
verb
To slowly become worse, weaker, or less quality over time.
The fruit left on the counter started to decay after a few days.
Often appears as...
- decay quickly
- decay slowly
noun
In physics, a process where a particle changes into another.
Radioactive decay is the process by which an unstable atomic nucleus loses energy by emitting radiation.
Often appears as...
- radioactive decay
- decay process
Usage tips
Technical
noun
In dental pathologies, damage to teeth caused by bacteria.
Tooth decay is often caused by poor oral hygiene.
Often appears as...
- tooth decay
- severe decay
Usage tips
Technical
verb
To gradually lessen in amount or intensity.
The signal began to decay after a few kilometers.
Often appears as...
- signal decay
- decay rapidly
Usage tips
Technical
noun
The process of becoming worse, weaker, or of less quality over time.
The paint on the wall started to show signs of decay after a few years.
Often appears as...
- show signs of decay
- rapid decay
verb
To slowly become worse, weaker, or less quality over time.
The fruit left on the counter started to decay after a few days.
Often appears as...
- decay quickly
- decay slowly
noun
In physics, a process where a particle changes into another.
Radioactive decay is the process by which an unstable atomic nucleus loses energy by emitting radiation.
Often appears as...
- radioactive decay
- decay process
Usage tips
Technical
noun
In dental pathologies, damage to teeth caused by bacteria.
Tooth decay is often caused by poor oral hygiene.
Often appears as...
- tooth decay
- severe decay
Usage tips
Technical
verb
To gradually lessen in amount or intensity.
The signal began to decay after a few kilometers.
Often appears as...
- signal decay
- decay rapidly
Usage tips
Technical
Definition 1 of 5
Pro Tip 1/3Progressive Worsening
Decay suggests something gradually getting worse, not sudden damage.
The building's decay became apparent over the decades.
Pro Tip 2/3Negative Connotation
Decay implies a loss of value or function, often evoking a sad or negative feeling.
The once vibrant neighborhood fell into decay.
Pro Tip 3/3Visible Change
Decay is often used to describe visible deterioration of objects.
Rust and decay marred the old machinery.
Pro Tip 1/3Progressive Worsening
Decay suggests something gradually getting worse, not sudden damage.
The building's decay became apparent over the decades.
Pro Tip 2/3Negative Connotation
Decay implies a loss of value or function, often evoking a sad or negative feeling.
The once vibrant neighborhood fell into decay.
Pro Tip 3/3Visible Change
Decay is often used to describe visible deterioration of objects.
Rust and decay marred the old machinery.
Pro Tip 1/3Progressive Worsening
Decay suggests something gradually getting worse, not sudden damage.
The building's decay became apparent over the decades.
Pro Tip 2/3Negative Connotation
Decay implies a loss of value or function, often evoking a sad or negative feeling.
The once vibrant neighborhood fell into decay.
Pro Tip 3/3Visible Change
Decay is often used to describe visible deterioration of objects.
Rust and decay marred the old machinery.
Compare with
corrosiondeclinedecompositiondegeneratedeterioratedissipateerosionputrefactionrot
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Video examples
Discovering Wildlife in...
It tends to live around decaying plant matter. So places like this are amazing for it because it's a ferocious predator. So that's where it likes to hunt all of its invertebrates. It's very quick, and it's also got a couple of defence mechanisms and threat displays so it can raise up its abdomen a bit like a scorpion, it does a scorpion like pose, and that's to intimidate its predators.
Video examples
How do we know what...
Let's return to the microraptor fossil. When scientists examined its feather imprints under a powerful microscope, they found nanostructures that look like melanosomes. X-ray analysis of the melanosomes further supported that theory. They contained minerals that would result from the decay of melanin.
Video examples
Calling for change in...
from gineering a university president for cut some time I didn't know the difference between our educational system and the decay systems the world our beta people deserve better the second thing is intrapreneurship our young people whom usually sometimes they count for two-thirds the population in
Video examples
Distorting Madonna in...
which meant that classical books that praised physical pleasures were not copied or protected. Without protection, they became the victims of natural decay, fire, flooding, or pests. And without the help of monks transcribing new copies, these texts and the philosophies they carried
Video examples
Could we create dark...
Now, the detectors take snapshots of about a billion of these collisions per second to find signs of extremely rare massive particles. To add to the difficulty, the particles we're looking for may be unstable and decay into more familiar particles before reaching the sensors.
Video examples
How does fracking work?...
Deep underground lies stores of once inaccessible natural gas. This gas was likely formed over millions of years as layers of decaying organisms were exposed to intense heat and pressure under the Earth's crust. There's a technology called hydraulic fracturing, or fracking,
Video examples
How do nuclear power...
fission products, and plutonium, a radioactive material not found in nature. This mix must be isolated from the environment until it has all safely decayed. Many countries propose deep time storage in tunnels drilled far underground,
Video examples
How to understand power...
Law number power is never static. It's always either accumulating or decaying in a civic arena. So if you aren't taking action, you're being acted upon. Law number power is like water. It flows like a current through everyday life.
Video examples
How a Woman's Donated...
like the idea of worms crawling in and out of my body and my body decaying and and turning to dust but we're projecting lifelike experiences on death logically I have no no problem with it
Video examples
Why our universe might...
we would see atoms shrinking, neutrons decaying inside atomic nuclei, nuclei disintegrating, and hydrogen would be the only possible chemical element in the universe.
Video examples
Discovering Wildlife in...
It tends to live around decaying plant matter. So places like this are amazing for it because it's a ferocious predator. So that's where it likes to hunt all of its invertebrates. It's very quick, and it's also got a couple of defence mechanisms and threat displays so it can raise up its abdomen a bit like a scorpion, it does a scorpion like pose, and that's to intimidate its predators.
Video examples
How do we know what...
Let's return to the microraptor fossil. When scientists examined its feather imprints under a powerful microscope, they found nanostructures that look like melanosomes. X-ray analysis of the melanosomes further supported that theory. They contained minerals that would result from the decay of melanin.
Video examples
Calling for change in...
from gineering a university president for cut some time I didn't know the difference between our educational system and the decay systems the world our beta people deserve better the second thing is intrapreneurship our young people whom usually sometimes they count for two-thirds the population in
Video examples
Distorting Madonna in...
which meant that classical books that praised physical pleasures were not copied or protected. Without protection, they became the victims of natural decay, fire, flooding, or pests. And without the help of monks transcribing new copies, these texts and the philosophies they carried
Video examples
Could we create dark...
Now, the detectors take snapshots of about a billion of these collisions per second to find signs of extremely rare massive particles. To add to the difficulty, the particles we're looking for may be unstable and decay into more familiar particles before reaching the sensors.
Video examples
How does fracking work?...
Deep underground lies stores of once inaccessible natural gas. This gas was likely formed over millions of years as layers of decaying organisms were exposed to intense heat and pressure under the Earth's crust. There's a technology called hydraulic fracturing, or fracking,
Video examples
How do nuclear power...
fission products, and plutonium, a radioactive material not found in nature. This mix must be isolated from the environment until it has all safely decayed. Many countries propose deep time storage in tunnels drilled far underground,
Video examples
How to understand power...
Law number power is never static. It's always either accumulating or decaying in a civic arena. So if you aren't taking action, you're being acted upon. Law number power is like water. It flows like a current through everyday life.
Video examples
How a Woman's Donated...
like the idea of worms crawling in and out of my body and my body decaying and and turning to dust but we're projecting lifelike experiences on death logically I have no no problem with it
Video examples
Why our universe might...
we would see atoms shrinking, neutrons decaying inside atomic nuclei, nuclei disintegrating, and hydrogen would be the only possible chemical element in the universe.
Example 1 of 10
Quote examples
C. S. Lewis
British Writer
Look for yourself, and you will find in the long run only hatred, loneliness, despair, rage, ruin, and decay. But look for Christ, and you will find Him, and with Him everything else thrown in.
Quote examples
Ramana Maharshi
Indian Philosopher
Who am I? Not the body, because it is decaying; not the mind, because the brain will decay with the body; not the personality, nor the emotions, for these also will vanish with death.
Quote examples
Percy Bysshe Shelley
English Poet
Government is an evil; it is only the thoughtlessness and vices of men that make it a necessary evil. When all men are good and wise, government will of itself decay.
Quote examples
Bob Dylan
American Musician
I am against nature. I don't dig nature at all. I think nature is very unnatural. I think the truly natural things are dreams, which nature can't touch with decay.
Quote examples
Samuel L. Jackson
Actor
We've come a long way in our thinking, but also in our moral decay. I can't imagine Dr. King watching the 'Real Housewives' or 'Jersey Shore.
Quote examples
Leonardo DiCaprio
American Actor
I saw all the moral decay you could, beginning at 2 years old. But I also got to see how the other half lived.
Quote examples
Henry Miller
American Author
I have always looked upon decay as being just as wonderful and rich an expression of life as growth.
Quote examples
Jiddu Krishnamurti
Indian Philosopher
Tradition becomes our security, and when the mind is secure it is in decay.
Quote examples
James Joyce
Irish Novelist
My mouth is full of decayed teeth and my soul of decayed ambitions.
Quote examples
Gary Oldman
English Actor
Reality TV to me is the museum of social decay.
Quote examples
C. S. Lewis
British Writer
Look for yourself, and you will find in the long run only hatred, loneliness, despair, rage, ruin, and decay. But look for Christ, and you will find Him, and with Him everything else thrown in.
Quote examples
Ramana Maharshi
Indian Philosopher
Who am I? Not the body, because it is decaying; not the mind, because the brain will decay with the body; not the personality, nor the emotions, for these also will vanish with death.
Quote examples
Percy Bysshe Shelley
English Poet
Government is an evil; it is only the thoughtlessness and vices of men that make it a necessary evil. When all men are good and wise, government will of itself decay.
Quote examples
Bob Dylan
American Musician
I am against nature. I don't dig nature at all. I think nature is very unnatural. I think the truly natural things are dreams, which nature can't touch with decay.
Quote examples
Samuel L. Jackson
Actor
We've come a long way in our thinking, but also in our moral decay. I can't imagine Dr. King watching the 'Real Housewives' or 'Jersey Shore.
Quote examples
Leonardo DiCaprio
American Actor
I saw all the moral decay you could, beginning at 2 years old. But I also got to see how the other half lived.
Quote examples
Henry Miller
American Author
I have always looked upon decay as being just as wonderful and rich an expression of life as growth.
Quote examples
Jiddu Krishnamurti
Indian Philosopher
Tradition becomes our security, and when the mind is secure it is in decay.
Quote examples
James Joyce
Irish Novelist
My mouth is full of decayed teeth and my soul of decayed ambitions.
Quote examples
Gary Oldman
English Actor
Reality TV to me is the museum of social decay.
Example 1 of 10
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