Thesaurus.com
Dictionary.com
Definitions

decay

[dih-kay] / dɪˈkeɪ /




Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

See Examples For:

The long-term nature of the leverage will also spare traders from the intense volatility decay experienced from holding leveraged ETFs that see big price swings and that reset daily.

From MarketWatch ● Oct. 10, 2026

Fulton Sheen likewise fiercely denounced communism and Nazism, as well as the cultural decay he believed left the West vulnerable to tyranny.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 5, 2026

The decay just hasn’t made itself known yet.

From Salon ● Oct. 2, 2026

That historical constraint helped researchers improve their measurement of the half-life governing the decay of potassium-40 into argon-40, the process that underlies argon-argon dating.

From Science Daily ● Sep. 30, 2026

But the stories she told them of moral decay, of the wicked who preyed on the good, were made more poignant by this clutch of arm to breast.

From "Jazz" by Toni Morrison

These components are critical for accurately tracking particle decays and identifying signals such as the Ξcc⁺.

From Science Daily ● Mar. 19, 2026

It contains radium that decays into radon gas, which is radioactive and can cause cancer.

From Barron's ● Oct. 10, 2025

Keeping the truth from someone might not be outright dishonesty, but it’s a rot that decays the same way, just festering at a slower pace.

From Salon ● Apr. 18, 2025

In short, it's a scenario in which the universe continues to both expand and cool - while everything within it dies off, decays, and fades away.

From BBC ● Oct. 31, 2024

New materials_are constantly being contributed as rocks disintegrate, as organic matter decays and as nitrogen and other gases are brought down in rain from the skies.

From "Silent Spring" by Rachel Carson

Yet, despite this surge of security personnel, basic living conditions have only decayed.

From Slate ● Aug. 11, 2026

Instead, the liquid is painted directly onto the decayed area.

From Science Daily ● Jul. 29, 2026

“Remote and hybrid work used to be a privilege, but its benefits over in-person work have decayed across the board,” Chris Martin, senior economist at Glassdoor, told MarketWatch.

From MarketWatch ● Jun. 27, 2026

Pyne added the tree would not immediately disappear, and as it decayed over the next few decades, would provide a home to many animals and plants.

From BBC ● Jun. 17, 2026

Dead animals were routinely tossed into this soup, where everything decayed and sent up noxious bubbles to foul the air.

From "An American Plague: The True and Terrifying Story of the Yellow Fever Epidemic of 1793" by Jim Murphy

Instead of studying photons or other relatively long-lived quantum systems, the researchers searched for entanglement between pairs of Z bosons, massive particles that exist for only a tiny fraction of a second before decaying.

From Science Daily ● Sep. 20, 2026

"The smell is like decaying wood being burned – that's the characteristic smell of peat. And that peat contains decomposed wood and organic material from many different sources."

From BBC ● Sep. 6, 2026

When the local economy began declining in the 1970s, the store closed its doors and sat abandoned and decaying.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 4, 2026

Officials say some 1,800 localities have already vanished since the turn of the century -- ghost villages that have become nothing more than decaying buildings and a name on a map.

From Barron's ● Jul. 22, 2026

There, the radiation emitted by a decaying isotope will strike one of the body’s cells.

From "Meltdown" by Deirdre Langeland




Vocabulary lists containing decay


Vocabulary.com logo
by dictionary.com

Dictionary.com's Learning Companion

Go beyond just looking up words.
Remember them forever with VocabTrainer.

Start training