v. i. | 1. | To pass gradually from a sound, prosperous, or perfect state, to one of imperfection, adversity, or dissolution; to waste away; to decline; to fail; to become weak, corrupt, or disintegrated; to rot; to perish; |
v. t. | 1. | To cause to decay; to impair. |
2. | To destroy. | |
n. | 1. | Gradual failure of health, strength, soundness, prosperity, or of any species of excellence or perfection; tendency toward dissolution or extinction; corruption; rottenness; decline; deterioration; |
2. | Destruction; death. | |
3. | Cause of decay. |
Noun | 1. | decay - the process of gradually becoming inferior |
2. | decay - a gradual decrease; as of stored charge or current Synonyms: decline | |
3. | decay - the organic phenomenon of rotting Synonyms: decomposition | |
4. | decay - an inferior state resulting from the process of decaying; "the corpse was in an advanced state of decay"; "the house had fallen into a serious state of decay and disrepair" | |
5. | decay - the spontaneous disintegration of a radioactive substance along with the emission of ionizing radiation Synonyms: radioactive decay, disintegration | |
Verb | 1. | decay - lose a stored charge, magnetic flux, or current; "the particles disintegrated during the nuclear fission process" Synonyms: decompose, disintegrate |
2. | decay - fall into decay or ruin; "The unoccupied house started to decay" Synonyms: delapidate, crumble | |
3. | decay - undergo decay or decomposition; "The body started to decay and needed to be cremated" |
decay - [Nuclear physics] An automatic conversion which is applied to most array-valued expressions in C; they "decay into" pointer-valued expressions pointing to the array's first element. This term is not used in the official standard for the language. |