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rots

verb

present tense third-person singular of rot
1
as in deteriorates
to become worse or of less value the house slowly fell into disrepair and rotted

Synonyms & Similar Words

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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in decomposes
to go through decomposition rotting vegetation on the bank of the river

Synonyms & Similar Words

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of rots In my experience, environment, culture, clarity, psychological safety and pace determine whether talent produces or rots. — Nilton Bernini, Forbes.com, 18 Sep. 2026 And be prepared to top off the soil in the future as the remaining root system rots away, causing the soil to sag. — Luke Miller, Better Homes & Gardens, 16 Sep. 2026 Messages break down, signals decay, information rots; the stuff of everyday data dystopia and media apocalypse, but in Braxton’s hands, raw material to be shaped into something recombinant and strange. — Reed Jackson, SPIN, 24 Aug. 2026 Medicine shortages have worsened and food rots in fridges without power. — Andrea Rodriguez, Fortune, 7 Aug. 2026 Parents used to tell their children that television rots the brain; now it’s considered a medium for legitimate art. — New York Times, 1 June 2026 When the seaweed rots, hydrogen sulfide gas is emitted, which smells like rotten eggs. — Doyle Rice, USA Today, 18 Apr. 2026 The big differences between the labs probably reflect the fact that, as Italians like to say, the fish rots from the head. — Caroline Mimbs Nyce, New Yorker, 10 Feb. 2026 Bacterial plant diseases include speck (a winter-surviving infection that attacks tomatoes), canker (which damages fruit trees including those producing apples and peaches), and blight (which rots melons, cucumbers, pumpkins, squash, peppers, tomatoes, eggplants, beans, and more). — New Atlas, 10 Jan. 2026
Recent Examples of Synonyms for rots
  1. deteriorates
  2. decomposes
  3. crumbles
  4. disintegrates
  5. descends
  6. decays
  7. worsens
  8. declines
Verb
  • Keep the effort easy enough that your movement quality improves rather than deteriorates.
    — Dana Santas, CNN Money, 24 Sep. 2026
  • Cuba has experienced frequent and prolonged blackouts as its aging power infrastructure deteriorates and the country struggles with severe fuel shortages.
    — Rena Rowe, The Washington Examiner, 19 Sep. 2026
Definition of deteriorates
Verb
  • Named for the Frenchman Joseph Fourier, the Fourier transform decomposes any function into a set of simple waves, each with a different frequency, or tone.
    — Shalma Wegsman, Quanta Magazine, 12 Aug. 2026
  • The research team enabled a room-temperature, four-electron chemical reaction path that forms and decomposes lithium oxide, which expands available energy storage.
    — Aman Tripathi, Interesting Engineering, 3 June 2026
Definition of decomposes
Verb
  • The Packers’ identity is that of a team that can’t shut the door, one that crumbles when momentum turns in a hostile away environment.
    — Matt Schneidman, New York Times, 14 Sep. 2026
  • All of the big talk about personal drive, which makes Free Solo so darkly compelling, immediately crumbles into selfish pablum the second that children are introduced into the equation.
    — Richard Lawson, HollywoodReporter, 3 Sep. 2026
Definition of crumbles
Verb
  • Even those who can afford to stay suffer losses in home equity and lifestyle as the community around them disintegrates or disappears.
    — The Conversation, Fortune, 12 June 2026
  • None are quite about the conflicting frames of reference and value that arise when an ancient cultural formation disintegrates and a successor has yet to take its place.
    — Becca Rothfeld, New Yorker, 1 June 2026
Definition of disintegrates
Verb
  • What begins as an awkward diplomatic retreat descends into humiliation, manipulation, and psychological power games.
    — Annika Pham, Variety, 23 Sep. 2026
  • Color begins near 10,000 feet in September, and then descends roughly 500 to 1,000 feet per week.
    — Stefanie Waldek, Travel + Leisure, 6 Sep. 2026
Definition of descends
Verb
  • Rituals are performed, oaths proposed and broken, and tensions escalate as the unburied body decays.
    — Georg Szalai, HollywoodReporter, 10 Aug. 2026
  • Control concentrated in one person dies with that person, decays with that person's judgment, and converts to cash the day that person takes a hard enough offer.
    — Kyle Westaway, Forbes.com, 1 July 2026
Definition of decays
Verb
  • The musician, 60, sat down with Tamron Hall for a candid conversation about living with Parkinson’s disease, which affects the nervous system, can affect movement and often worsens over time.
    — Rachel Raposas, PEOPLE, 17 Sep. 2026
  • While the Science study found workers in remote-friendly jobs had higher levels of mental distress, other experts cautioned against the idea that remote work alone worsens mental health.
    — Cordilia James, CNN Money, 14 Sep. 2026
Definition of worsens
Verb
  • Indeed, in her devotion to sparkle, Pechman declines to probe too deeply into any of the industry’s more hurtful or exploitative dimensions.
    — Natalia Winkelman, Variety, 20 Sep. 2026
  • At the same time, some longtime communities have seen Latino population declines, including Logan Square, Avondale, Albany Park, Irving Park and Pilsen.
    — Allison Kiehl, Chicago Tribune, 18 Sep. 2026
Definition of declines

Browse Nearby Words

rototills
rots
rotted
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Cite this Entry

“Rots.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/rots. Accessed 25 Sep. 2026.

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