as in deterioration
a gradual sinking and wasting away of mind or body
the decaying of the bone mass that is so regrettably common in elderly women
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
1
as in ramshackle
Related Words
Dissimilar Words
2
as in dying
Related Words
1
as in decomposing
to go through decomposition
the logs decayed on the rain forest floor the atom of plutonium decayed in the test chamber
Synonyms & Similar Words
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in deteriorating
to become worse or of less value
the restaurant's standards for food and service had decayed over the years
Synonyms & Similar Words
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
3
as in fading
to lose bodily strength or vigor
having reached her 80s, the woman could sense that her body was decaying
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of decaying
Georgina Jedikovska, Interesting Engineering, 8 Oct. 2025
Katie Hunt, CNN Money, 7 Nov. 2025
The place is decaying and strict, but Luna refuses to give in to its rules.
—John Hopewell, Variety, 7 Nov. 2025
But the Demogorgon catches up, dragging Will into the decaying lair of Vecna (Jamie Campbell Bower), looking as menacing as ever.
—Taijuan Moorman, USA Today, 7 Nov. 2025
The smell indicates that there’s a bad infection or decaying flesh.
—Maria Azzurra Volpe, MSNBC Newsweek, 5 Nov. 2025
Ronnie is able to bite through the cord and separate herself, but her mother — now demonic and decaying — rushes toward her.
—Louis Peitzman, Vulture, 3 Nov. 2025
Mia Wasikowska plays Edith, an heiress who marries a seductive baron, Thomas Sharpe (Tom Hiddleston), and moves into his enormous, decaying mansion — which is also inhabited by Thomas' enigmatic sister, Lucille (Jessica Chastain).
—Steven Thrash, Entertainment Weekly, 25 Oct. 2025
What Pasolini wants is to turn this decaying palazzo into the Château de Silling, the house in which Sade’s libertines conduct their atrocious experiments.
—David Wingrave, Harpers Magazine, 24 Oct. 2025
This layer then preserved the surface underneath it in three dimensions as the dinosaur’s organic matter continued decaying before its skeleton eventually fossilized.
—Andrew Paul, Popular Science, 23 Oct. 2025
Noun
For the study, Ruotsalainen measured the Q values of two double-beta decaying and one beta-decaying nucleus.
—Georgina Jedikovska, Interesting Engineering, 8 Oct. 2025
Verb
The decaying Avenger is one of a dozen wrecks in three very different underwater environments — the western Pacific Ocean off Saipan, Lake Huron, shared by Michigan and Ontario, and the Italian Mediterranean — investigated as part of the ambitious pilot project involving eDNA.
—Katie Hunt, CNN Money, 7 Nov. 2025
The place is decaying and strict, but Luna refuses to give in to its rules.
—John Hopewell, Variety, 7 Nov. 2025
But the Demogorgon catches up, dragging Will into the decaying lair of Vecna (Jamie Campbell Bower), looking as menacing as ever.
—Taijuan Moorman, USA Today, 7 Nov. 2025
The smell indicates that there’s a bad infection or decaying flesh.
—Maria Azzurra Volpe, MSNBC Newsweek, 5 Nov. 2025
Ronnie is able to bite through the cord and separate herself, but her mother — now demonic and decaying — rushes toward her.
—Louis Peitzman, Vulture, 3 Nov. 2025
Mia Wasikowska plays Edith, an heiress who marries a seductive baron, Thomas Sharpe (Tom Hiddleston), and moves into his enormous, decaying mansion — which is also inhabited by Thomas' enigmatic sister, Lucille (Jessica Chastain).
—Steven Thrash, Entertainment Weekly, 25 Oct. 2025
What Pasolini wants is to turn this decaying palazzo into the Château de Silling, the house in which Sade’s libertines conduct their atrocious experiments.
—David Wingrave, Harpers Magazine, 24 Oct. 2025
This layer then preserved the surface underneath it in three dimensions as the dinosaur’s organic matter continued decaying before its skeleton eventually fossilized.
—Andrew Paul, Popular Science, 23 Oct. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for decaying
Noun
-
Some of it is also related to the age and deterioration of much of the grid, which now requires rebuilding.—
Tom Rogers,
MSNBC Newsweek,
6 Nov. 2025
-
The deterioration in the labor market has been concentrated in payroll employment, which is the [datapoint] that is the most susceptible to demographic and immigration changes.—
Liz Hoffman,
semafor.com,
4 Nov. 2025
Adjective
-
White’s performance of the song on Austin City Limits in 1980, which was eventually released as the album Live in Austin, TX, is a ramshackle revelation.—
Garret K. Woodward,
Rolling Stone,
28 Oct. 2025
-
The series, based on novels by Mick Herron, follows a band of castoffs from the British national security service who are relegated to a ramshackle office building, with Lamb at its head.—
Barbara Ellis,
Denver Post,
20 Oct. 2025
Verb
-
Bugs and scientists have long been oddball allies in the effort to understand decomposing bodies, but there's a catch.—
Phaedra Trethan,
USA Today,
29 Oct. 2025
-
The round spots seemed neat compared with their surroundings, clear of the layers of decomposing plankton spotted elsewhere on the seafloor.—
Ashley Strickland,
CNN Money,
29 Oct. 2025
Verb
-
In the last 28 years, Alaska's rural school districts have made close to 1,800 requests to the state for money to maintain and repair deteriorating schools, but only 14% of those requests have been approved.—
Emily Schwing,
NPR,
10 Nov. 2025
-
Fiserv attributed its slowing growth to Argentina’s deteriorating economic environment, as the country last year contributed 10 percentage points to Fiserv’s 16% organic growth rate.—
Pia Singh,
CNBC,
8 Nov. 2025
Verb
-
Specifically, the official tasting notes detail cedar, nutmeg, and cinnamon on the nose; vanilla extract, butterscotch, and black pepper on the palate; and fading black pepper and some more cinnamon on the finish.—
Jonah Flicker,
Robb Report,
11 Nov. 2025
-
When Susana’s fading mind begins to fold past and present into one, the film becomes a meditation on time and the traces family stories leave behind.—
Essie Assibu,
Variety,
11 Nov. 2025
Noun
-
Keep the mulch at least two inches away from woody stems to prevent decay and disease.—
Mary Marlowe Leverette,
Southern Living,
8 Nov. 2025
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The Tyranids represent man's fear of the natural world, nature's inexorable ability to overwhelm, decay, and devour all of man's greatest works.—
Alan Bradley,
Space.com,
8 Nov. 2025
Adjective
-
Everything looks so rickety — this stadium wasn’t built for pandemonium like this.—
Rob Sheffield,
Rolling Stone,
15 Aug. 2025
-
Griff's was a cozy space inside with a small, rickety wooden patio in the front and a larger one in the back.—
Brianna Griff,
Chron,
13 Jan. 2023
Verb
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The research team revealed that plastination is a new method for managing moisture in wood by replacing water in the cellular structure with a silicone compound to create a durable, hydrophobic barrier that resists swelling, rotting, and cracking.—
Prabhat Ranjan Mishra,
Interesting Engineering,
6 Nov. 2025
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The rotting corpse flower’s putrid stench cast a spell Thursday across Roseville High School’s campus.—
Ishani Desai,
Sacbee.com,
31 Oct. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Decaying.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/decaying. Accessed 14 Nov. 2025.
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