as in decay
the process by which dead organic matter separates into simpler substances
the unmistakable smell of decomposition led us to some fruit that had fallen behind the refrigerator
Synonyms & Similar Words
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Example Sentences
Recent Examples of Synonyms for decomposition
Noun
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And these beverages also contribute to tooth decay.—
Katia Hetter,
CNN,
13 Mar. 2025 -
One recent exhibit displayed a series of rough-hewn public fountains that evoked post-apocalyptic decay.—
Joshua Yaffa,
The New Yorker,
13 Mar. 2025
Noun
-
The yogurt is not pasteurized after fermentation, meaning the live probiotics are not killed off.—
Morgan Pearson, MS,
Verywell Health,
14 Mar. 2025
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But the place also has some seriously ambitious pizza: long fermentation dough, a wood-burning oven and snazzy ingredients like wild mushrooms, roasted peppers, presunto ham, burrata and sometimes some oddball ones, like Swedish smoked salmon and caviar.—
Ann Abel,
Forbes,
13 Mar. 2025
Noun
-
Here was an artist drawn irresistibly to executions and corpses, dismemberment and putrefaction.—
airmail.news,
airmail.news,
20 Apr. 2024
-
Kellogg’s thinking on constipation, that anything less than three bowel movements a day risked dangerous intestinal putrefaction, was shaped by the emerging germ theory of disease and the ascent of bacteriology as a discipline through the closing decades of the 19th century.—
Elsa Richardson,
TIME,
3 Oct. 2024
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Cite this Entry
“Decomposition.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/decomposition. Accessed 23 Mar. 2025.
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