as in decomposing
to go through decomposition
we traced the bad smell to a dead skunk putrefying under the house
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
as in rotting
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Recent Examples of putrefying
Katy Waldman, New Yorker, 9 Aug. 2025
Adjective
Because lose-lose situations are so endemic to the genre, a hint of relief can sometimes accompany the prospect of surrender to the putrefying mob.
—Katy Waldman, New Yorker, 9 Aug. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for putrefying
Verb
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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
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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
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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
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Churches, libraries, and houses stand splintered and rotting next to posh tourist resorts, the aftermath of 2017’s Hurricane Maria.—
Brenna Ehrlich,
Rolling Stone,
26 Oct. 2025
Adjective
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This putrescent combination of sky-high home prices, rising mortgage rates and stifling consumer inflation have forced all but the wealthiest or most determined buyers out of a new home.—
Q.ai - Powering a Personal Wealth Movement,
Forbes,
17 Aug. 2022
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The most common are oils (cinnamon, clove, thyme, garlic, etc.), putrescent whole egg solids, dried blood, etc.—
Kym Pokorny,
OregonLive.com,
17 Apr. 2018
Verb
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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
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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
Adjective
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Dangerously old, moldy or not-cold-enough food caused a North Miami-Dade Presidente Supermarket to fail state inspection.—
David J. Neal,
Miami Herald,
29 Oct. 2025
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Leave the papery skin intact, and throw out any cloves that are damaged, soft, or moldy.—
Karen Brewer Grossman,
Southern Living,
26 Oct. 2025
Verb
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By the time it was all set up, the whole cold, disintegrating place was threaded with lights and lines, flickering everywhere, black and red, the sheer quantity somehow terrifying and embracing at once.—
Blair Braverman,
Outside,
28 Oct. 2025
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This difference sounds small, but preventing a few tenths of a degree of warming could keep polar ice caps from completely disintegrating, coral reefs from collapsing and other tipping points from triggering.—
Syris Valentine,
Scientific American,
16 Oct. 2025
Adjective
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The renovation plans call for replacing the sign’s corroded letters and converting the lighting to an LED system.—
Barbara Henry,
San Diego Union-Tribune,
16 Oct. 2025
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Those kept in the more acidic water were significantly more corroded, and had far more cracks and holes, especially at the root and tooth base.—
Lauren Leffer,
Popular Science,
27 Aug. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Putrefying.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/putrefying. Accessed 4 Nov. 2025.
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