How to Use putrefaction in a Sentence

putrefaction

noun

• Bodies are still being pulled from the ruins and the smell of putrefaction hangs in the air.
  — The Economist, 12 Oct. 2017
• The indicators change color to red or brilliant purple with the presence of the byproducts of putrefaction.
  — Emily Matchar, Smithsonian, 3 July 2019
• These deposits are believed to be formed by the decay and putrefaction of living organisms.
  — Jay Bennett, Popular Mechanics, 1 Mar. 2017
• His job had been to excavate the bomb shelters and basements to remove the rotting corpses before the entire city started to stink of human putrefaction.
  — Rachel Lance, Smithsonian Magazine, 10 Mar. 2020
• During the saponification process, the body’s fatty acids turn into a waxy, soap-like compound that covers the corpse and prevents putrefaction.
  — Oscar Urbiola, National Geographic, 29 Oct. 2019
• The globe is smooth, the hand strokes its polished, multicolored surface, under the blue of distant waters and islands there is bleeding and putrefaction.
  — Claudio Magris, Harper's Magazine, 25 May 2021
• For miles at a stretch, the only landmarks were corpses: foxes, raccoons, armadillos in various states of putrefaction on the margins of the Interstate.
  — Mark O’Connell, New York Times, 9 Feb. 2017
• Receptors are tuned to detect a few basic odors apiece: some detect geranium petals or pine needles, while others detect the by-products of putrefaction.
  — Ryan P. Dalton, Scientific American, 13 Aug. 2019
• Decomposition brings with it gases and odors and scavengers, which can be disturbing and unpleasant for the living, but putrefaction itself is not a source of disease.
  — Lisa Wells, Harper's Magazine, 28 Sep. 2021
• The putrefaction of the rotting leviathans was so violent that several curious onlookers dropped dead after taking a whiff.
  — Nathaniel Rich, Harper's magazine, 10 May 2019
• Such a consistent putrefaction pattern also comes as a surprise to others on the trail of early animal evolution.
  — Katherine Harmon, Scientific American, 31 Jan. 2010
• In one somber composition, a pair of pumpkins, long past putrefaction, approach fossilization.
  — Mark Jenkins, Washington Post, 9 Sep. 2022
• The putrefaction of the university, and of elite American and European culture more generally, has made the task of rebuilding liberal institutions an urgent one.
  — Bruce Gilley, WSJ, 7 Oct. 2020
• On Mars, only the anaerobic bacteria that don’t require oxygen could proliferate until freezing, which means putrefaction would be severely limited.
  — Alison Klesman, Discover Magazine, 29 Sep. 2021

Last Updated: 24 Jul 2024