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
When the surgeons finally opened her with a piece of broken glass, the putrefaction was as warm as life.
—
Nell Zink,
Harper's Magazine,
28 Feb. 2025
Kellogg’s thinking on constipation, that anything less than three bowel movements a day risked dangerous intestinal putrefaction, was shaped by the emerging germ theory of disease and the ascent of bacteriology as a discipline through the closing decades of the 19th century.
—
Elsa Richardson,
TIME,
3 Oct. 2024
Here was an artist drawn irresistibly to executions and corpses, dismemberment and putrefaction.
—
airmail.news,
20 Apr. 2024
Not the smell of putrefaction, though the novel is littered with rotting corpses.
—
Nathaniel Rich,
The New York Review of Books,
30 Nov. 2023
See All Example Sentences for putrefaction
Nell Zink,
Harper's Magazine,
28 Feb. 2025
Kellogg’s thinking on constipation, that anything less than three bowel movements a day risked dangerous intestinal putrefaction, was shaped by the emerging germ theory of disease and the ascent of bacteriology as a discipline through the closing decades of the 19th century.
—
Elsa Richardson,
TIME,
3 Oct. 2024
Here was an artist drawn irresistibly to executions and corpses, dismemberment and putrefaction.
—
airmail.news,
20 Apr. 2024
Not the smell of putrefaction, though the novel is littered with rotting corpses.
—
Nathaniel Rich,
The New York Review of Books,
30 Nov. 2023
See All Example Sentences for putrefaction
Recent Examples of Synonyms for putrefaction
Noun
-
Frequent mowing keeps clippings small, preventing smothering and speeds up decomposition for reuse.
-
As with all animals, when a whale dies, bacteria begin the process of decomposition.
Noun
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At age 11, my favorite Broadway show was Follies – a classic preteen tale about the decay of female beauty and fading fame within an unscrupulous industry of vaudeville and burlesque.
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Their fix is to let the same model that does the reasoning also curate the knowledge, stored as human-readable notes and organized hierarchically with provenance and a lifecycle so stale plays decay rather than calcify.
Cite this Entry
“Putrefaction.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/putrefaction. Accessed 1 Jul. 2026.
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