as in to disintegrate
to go through decomposition
detectives needed to know how long it would take a corpse to decompose to that advanced state
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
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
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of decompose
Sheldon H. Jacobson, Chicago Tribune, 20 Jan. 2025
Ordinarily, plants exposed to a fire’s heat begin to decompose and become fuel, but Phos-Chek acts as a coating, creating a barrier that consumes the heat energy.
—Minyvonne Burke, NBC News, 17 Jan. 2025
When the new bridge, pulled into place by teams working on opposite sides of the canyon, is complete, the old one is severed and is simply left to decompose.
—Joan Gaylord, The Christian Science Monitor, 17 Jan. 2025
Many say the unfolding disaster underground was clear weeks ago, when community members sporadically pulled decomposing bodies out of the mine, some with notes attached pleading for food to be sent down.
—Mogomotsi Magome and Gerald Imray, Los Angeles Times, 16 Jan. 2025
See all Example Sentences for decompose 
Verb
The bodies had already begun to decompose, suggesting that the people had died some time before they were discovered.
—Sheldon H. Jacobson, Chicago Tribune, 20 Jan. 2025
Ordinarily, plants exposed to a fire’s heat begin to decompose and become fuel, but Phos-Chek acts as a coating, creating a barrier that consumes the heat energy.
—Minyvonne Burke, NBC News, 17 Jan. 2025
When the new bridge, pulled into place by teams working on opposite sides of the canyon, is complete, the old one is severed and is simply left to decompose.
—Joan Gaylord, The Christian Science Monitor, 17 Jan. 2025
Many say the unfolding disaster underground was clear weeks ago, when community members sporadically pulled decomposing bodies out of the mine, some with notes attached pleading for food to be sent down.
—Mogomotsi Magome and Gerald Imray, Los Angeles Times, 16 Jan. 2025
See all Example Sentences for decompose
Recent Examples of Synonyms for decompose
Verb
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However, Lehr said, if 5% of residents come forward and vote against the termination, then the deal can disintegrate.—
Miami Herald Archives,
Miami Herald,
30 Jan. 2025
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This finding offers important new insight into the evolutionary underpinnings of outer ears, which are typically difficult to study, because cartilage disintegrates over time and does not fossilize like bone.—
Sarah Kuta,
Smithsonian Magazine,
23 Jan. 2025
Noun
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Those folks even named the local wildlife refuge after swinging Sony Bono, but what came next was toxic salinity and decay as less water came in and the water that remained increased in salinity.—
Dennis Hinkamp,
The Denver Post,
5 Feb. 2025
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Introduced in the 1940s to combat tooth decay, around 63 percent of the U.S. population receives fluoridated water, according to the National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research (NIDCR), though this is not federally mandated.—
David Faris,
Newsweek,
2 Feb. 2025
Verb
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These waivers are now being implemented, that it is being executed, that food will be going out, but, to your point, about $40 million in food rotting in these warehouses in Houston, about 500,000 metric tons on ships on the sea.—
CBS News,
CBS News,
9 Feb. 2025
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Like Twin Peaks, The Return opened with two murders, when a kissing couple were mauled by a mysterious monster who emerges from a glass box, and a body without a head and a head without a body were found rotting in a faraway room.—
K. Austin Collins,
The Atlantic,
7 Feb. 2025
Noun
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In a process known as fermentation, these bacteria feast on the oligosaccharides, resulting in byproducts like hydrogen, carbon dioxide, methane, and, occasionally, sulfur—in other words, gas.—
Caroline Tien,
SELF,
7 Feb. 2025
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Favorable policies and product innovations in the US and Canada are expected to drive the growth and adoption of precision fermentation.—
Sarwant Singh,
Forbes,
22 Jan. 2025
Noun
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Here was an artist drawn irresistibly to executions and corpses, dismemberment and putrefaction.—
airmail.news,
airmail.news,
20 Apr. 2024
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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
Thesaurus Entries Near decompose
Cite this Entry
“Decompose.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/decompose. Accessed 21 Feb. 2025.
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