decompose
to separate or resolve into constituent parts or elements; disintegrate: The bacteria decomposed the milk into its solid and liquid elements.
to rot; putrefy: The egg began to decompose after a day in the sun.
Origin of decompose
1synonym study For decompose
Other words for decompose
Other words from decompose
- de·com·pos·a·ble, adjective
- de·com·pos·a·bil·i·ty, noun
- un·de·com·pos·a·ble, adjective
Words Nearby decompose
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024
How to use decompose in a sentence
Within the peat — packed remains of partially decomposed plants — oxygen-bearing organic compounds called cellulose contain clues to the climate history of the region.
Bering Sea winter ice shrank to its lowest level in 5,500 years in 2018 | Carolyn Gramling | September 3, 2020 | Science NewsDon’t let it decompose in nature or “fertilize” someone’s yard.
Studies of how bodies decompose underwater suggest that if the thalattosaur was a carcass when the ichthyosaur found it, the prey’s limbs would have rotted off before its tail, the authors argue.
This ichthyosaur died after devouring a creature nearly as long as itself | Maria Temming | August 20, 2020 | Science NewsTropical peatlands are permanently flooded forests where fallen leaves and branches accumulate for centuries rather than decomposing.
Left to decompose, trash and recycling break down into methane or carbon dioxide.
Converting trash to valuable graphene in a flash | Alison Pearce Stevens | March 20, 2020 | Science News For Students
He wants to take the fingers, let them decompose, then take the bones and make a finger bone necklace out of it.
‘Kill Team’: The Documentary the Army Doesn’t Want You to See | Andrew Romano | July 26, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTThe question before us, then, is this: how quickly does a dead person decompose?
L.A. Hotel Scare: How Sick Will You Get From a Corpse in Water Supply? | Kent Sepkowitz | February 22, 2013 | THE DAILY BEASTInstead, as the body began to decompose, she spread baking soda on the floorboards to mask the smell.
By this time the husks will have begun to decompose and darken the kernels.
Mineral acids decompose it, with the evolution of sulphuretted hydrogen.
A strong heat will decompose this lunar nitre, and recover the silver.
Remember that the hanging of meat is for the purpose of allowing it to begin to decompose.
Betton's eyes, fixed on him, saw his face decompose like a substance touched by some powerful acid.
Tales Of Men And Ghosts | Edith Wharton
British Dictionary definitions for decompose
/ (ˌdiːkəmˈpəʊz) /
to break down (organic matter) or (of organic matter) to be broken down physically and chemically by bacterial or fungal action; rot
chem to break down or cause to break down into simpler chemical compounds
to break up or separate into constituent parts
(tr) maths to express in terms of a number of independent simpler components, as a set as a canonical union of disjoint subsets, or a vector into orthogonal components
Derived forms of decompose
- decomposable, adjective
- decomposability, noun
- decomposition (ˌdiːkɒmpəˈzɪʃən), noun
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Browse