How to Use putrefaction in a Sentence

putrefaction

noun

• Bodies are still being pulled from the ruins and the smell of putrefaction hangs in the air.
  — The Economist, 12 Oct. 2017
• Those oozing hills shift, belch, and mist their surroundings with the odor of putrefaction.
  — Curbed, 12 Aug. 2022
• At the first month, initial putrefaction had started, and hindlegs were partly skeletonized.
  — Seriously Science, Discover Magazine, 12 June 2015
• At the second month, both forelegs and hindlegs were partly skeletonized, and the abdomen and back showed advanced putrefaction.
  — Seriously Science, Discover Magazine, 12 June 2015
• These deposits are believed to be formed by the decay and putrefaction of living organisms.
  — Jay Bennett, Popular Mechanics, 1 Mar. 2017
• Thousands of skeletal creatures were lying on bunks unable to move, while dead bodies were piled in heaps all around the camp, reeking of putrefaction.
  — Literary Hub, 17 Sep. 2025
• Now guys, be sure to say thank you to the man responsible for the pool’s putrefaction and the rest of the surrounding devastation.
  — Voice Of The People, New York Daily News, 26 June 2026
• The indicators change color to red or brilliant purple with the presence of the byproducts of putrefaction.
  — Emily Matchar, Smithsonian, 3 July 2019
• His job had been to excavate the bomb shelters and basements to remove the rotting corpses before the entire city started to stink of human putrefaction.
  — Rachel Lance, Smithsonian Magazine, 10 Mar. 2020
• During the saponification process, the body’s fatty acids turn into a waxy, soap-like compound that covers the corpse and prevents putrefaction.
  — Oscar Urbiola, National Geographic, 29 Oct. 2019
• In one somber composition, a pair of pumpkins, long past putrefaction, approach fossilization.
  — Mark Jenkins, Washington Post, 9 Sep. 2022
• Nikolai Gogol’s will specified that his corpse must show visible signs of putrefaction before burial.
  — Literary Hub, 8 Oct. 2025
• Such a consistent putrefaction pattern also comes as a surprise to others on the trail of early animal evolution.
  — Katherine Harmon, Scientific American, 31 Jan. 2010
• Gut bacteria, especially a class of microbes called Clostridia, spread through your organs and digest you from the inside out in a process called putrefaction.
  — Jennifer Debruyn, The Conversation, 28 Sep. 2023
• The putrefaction of the rotting leviathans was so violent that several curious onlookers dropped dead after taking a whiff.
  — Nathaniel Rich, Harper's magazine, 10 May 2019
• At the third month, the samples showed areas of mummification at the abdomen within a general context of initial putrefaction.
  — Seriously Science, Discover Magazine, 12 June 2015
• Decomposition brings with it gases and odors and scavengers, which can be disturbing and unpleasant for the living, but putrefaction itself is not a source of disease.
  — Lisa Wells, Harper's Magazine, 28 Sep. 2021
• On Mars, only the anaerobic bacteria that don’t require oxygen could proliferate until freezing, which means putrefaction would be severely limited.
  — Alison Klesman, Discover Magazine, 29 Sep. 2021
• The putrefaction of the university, and of elite American and European culture more generally, has made the task of rebuilding liberal institutions an urgent one.
  — Bruce Gilley, WSJ, 7 Oct. 2020