as in decomposition
the process by which dead organic matter separates into simpler substances
clearing the refrigerator of what the previous tenant had left behind was like taking a course in the advanced putrefaction of leftovers
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Recent Examples of putrefaction
Not the smell of putrefaction, though the novel is littered with rotting corpses.
—
Nathaniel Rich, The New York Review of Books, 30 Nov. 2023
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
Once the body is out of sight underground, embalmed tissues eventually melt into a toxic putrefaction.
—Joan Meiners, Discover Magazine, 6 Aug. 2020
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
See All Example Sentences for putrefaction
Nathaniel Rich, The New York Review of Books, 30 Nov. 2023
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
Once the body is out of sight underground, embalmed tissues eventually melt into a toxic putrefaction.
—Joan Meiners, Discover Magazine, 6 Aug. 2020
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
See All Example Sentences for putrefaction
Recent Examples of Synonyms for putrefaction
decay
Noun
-
Certainly not for novelty’s sake; we are hardly starved for dramas of mental decay, or for the stupendous feats of acting that are often achieved in their service.—
Justin Chang,
New Yorker,
19 June 2025
-
That’s because warming increases the rate of decay of falling organic debris, so that less of it reaches the twilight zone.—
Tim Vernimmen,
JSTOR Daily,
19 June 2025
Cite this Entry
“Putrefaction.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/putrefaction. Accessed 2 Jul. 2025.
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