decay
noun · verb
Simple meaning
Gradually becoming inferior.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
duhkaySay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
dəˈkeɪ
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
noun
ecologymedicine
The process of gradually becoming inferior
ecologymedicine
The process or result of being gradually decomposed; rot, decomposition.
A deterioration of condition; loss of status, quality, strength, or fortune.
A gradual decrease; as of stored charge or current
Progressive change in the path of an earth-orbiting satellite due to atmospheric drag.
verb
intransitive
To deteriorate, to get worse, to lose strength or health, to decline in quality.
intransitiveof organic material
To rot, to go bad.
transitive
To cause to rot or deteriorate.
Undergo decay or decomposition
“The body started to decay and needed to be cremated.”
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- B2 · Upper Intermediate
- Frequency
- Moderately Common
- Typical Use
- Neutral / general English
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: The process of gradually becoming inferior
Used this way, decay is a specialist word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. This is a clinical use: it belongs to medical description, where it is factual rather than emotive.
- Emotional tone
- Neutral
- Formality
- Specialist/technical
- Intensity
- Not strongly marked
- How common
- Specialized
- Connotation
- Clinical and technical
- Usage feel
- Technical and specialized
Where it naturally appears
- Medicine/healthcare
- Science
- Technical/specialist writing
Usage note
In general conversation this sense usually needs explaining — outside its field, people reach for a plainer word.
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
More ways to use decay
- “The unoccupied house started to decay.”verb
- “The corpse was in an advanced state of decay.”noun
- “The body started to decay and needed to be cremated.”verb
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Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
Several / spontaneous
Situation
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Word Family
Related forms, grouped by how they connect.
Compound terms
Established multiword terms.
Radioactive decay of an atomic nucleus that is accompanied by the emission of an alpha particle.
Radioactive decay of an atomic nucleus that is accompanied by the emission of a beta particle.
A decrease that follows an exponential function.
Soft decayed area in a tooth.
The spontaneous disintegration of a radioactive substance along with the emission of ionizing radiation.
More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin
Synonyms
Sense: gradually becoming inferior
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.