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decomposition

noun

Simple meaning

A biological process through which organic material is reduced to e.g.

Pronunciation

Say it like this:

deekuhmpohzishuhn

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US device voice
IPA pronunciation (US)

dikəmpoʊˈzɪʃən

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.

Word Review

Definition

Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.

noun

  1. A biological process through which organic material is reduced to e.g. compost.

  2. The act of taking something apart, e.g. for analysis.

  3. The splitting (of e.g. a matrix, an atom, or a compound) into constituent parts.

Word at a Glance

Difficulty
B2 · Upper Intermediate (estimated)
Frequency
Moderately Common
Formality
Technical

Word Aura™

How this word commonly comes across.

Aura for this meaning

This meaning: A biological process through which organic material is reduced to e.g. compost.

Used this way, decomposition is a specialist word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. This is a scientific use: it names something precisely within a field of study, so it appears in research and teaching more than in conversation.

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

  • Science
  • Academic writing
  • 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 decomposition

  • “The slow decomposition of leaves enriches the soil in the forest.”noun

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Common Patterns and Combinations

How this word naturally appears with others.

thermal decompositiondouble decompositionchemical decompositionvalue decompositiondomain decompositiondecomposition processrapid decompositiondecomposition rate

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Word Family

Related forms, grouped by how they connect.

Compound terms

Established multiword terms.

  • decomposition reactionnounCompound term

    Separation of a substance into two or more substances that may differ from each other and from the original substance.

  • chemical decomposition reactionnounCompound term

    Separation of a substance into two or more substances that may differ from each other and from the original substance.

  • double decompositionnounCompound term

    A chemical reaction between two compounds in which parts of each are interchanged to form two new compounds (AB+CD=AD+CB).

  • double decomposition reactionnounCompound term

    A chemical reaction between two compounds in which parts of each are interchanged to form two new compounds (AB+CD=AD+CB).

  • vector decompositionnounCompound term

    The analysis of a vector field.

More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin

Synonyms

Sense: biological process through which organic material is reduced to e.g. compost

decay

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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.