decay

decay is a 5-letter English word with 14 senses as intransitive verb, transitive verb, noun, and verb in the JumbleFix dictionary. One common meaning is: To pass gradually from a sound, prosperous, or perfect state, to one of imperfection, adversity, or dissolution; to waste away; to decline; to fail; to become weak, corrupt, or disintegrated; to rot; to perish; as, a tree decays; fortunes decay; hopes decay. Face value is 11 in Scrabble and 11 in Words With Friends. Use the entries below when you need a playable sense, a nearby word, or another arrangement of the same letters.

5 letters · Scrabble 11 · Words With Friends 11 · 14 senses

Definitions

1. intransitive verb. To pass gradually from a sound, prosperous, or perfect state, to one of imperfection, adversity, or dissolution; to waste away; to decline; to fail; to become weak, corrupt, or disintegrated; to rot; to perish; as, a tree decays; fortunes decay; hopes decay.
2. transitive verb. To cause to decay; to impair.
3. transitive verb. To destroy.
4. noun. Gradual failure of health, strength, soundness, prosperity, or of any species of excellence or perfection; tendency toward dissolution or extinction; corruption; rottenness; decline; deterioration; as, the decay of the body; the decay of virtue; the decay of the Roman empire; a castle in decay.
5. noun. Destruction; death.
6. noun. Cause of decay.
7. noun. the organic phenomenon of rotting

   Synonyms: decomposition

8. noun. a gradual decrease; as of stored charge or current

   Synonyms: decline

9. noun. the process of gradually becoming inferior
10. noun. the spontaneous disintegration of a radioactive substance along with the emission of ionizing radiation

    Synonyms: disintegration

11. noun. an inferior state resulting from the process of decaying

    "the corpse was in an advanced state of decay"

    "the house had fallen into a serious state of decay and disrepair"

12. verb. fall into decay or ruin

    "The unoccupied house started to decay"

    Synonyms: crumble, dilapidate

13. verb. lose a stored charge, magnetic flux, or current

    "the particles disintegrated during the nuclear fission process"

    Synonyms: decompose, disintegrate

14. verb. undergo decay or decomposition

    "The body started to decay and needed to be cremated"

Synonyms

decomposition, decline, disintegration, crumble, dilapidate, decompose, disintegrate

Anagrams

Other playable words that use exactly the letters in decay:

acedy

Common word forms

decays, decayed, decayer, decaying, decayable, decayless

Words from these letters

If you are holding these tiles, the unscrambler for DECAY lists every valid word you can make from the same letters, including shorter plays.