decompose

[dee-kuhm-pohz]

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verb (used with object), de·com·posed, de·com·pos·ing.

to separate or resolve into constituent parts or elements; disintegrate: The bacteria decomposed the milk into its solid and liquid elements.

verb (used without object), de·com·posed, de·com·pos·ing.

to rot; putrefy: The egg began to decompose after a day in the sun.

Origin of decompose

1745–55; < French décomposer, equivalent to dé- dis-¹ + composer to compose

Related formsde·com·pos·a·ble, adjectivede·com·pos·a·bil·i·ty, nounun·de·com·pos·a·ble, adjective

Synonyms for decompose

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1. distill, fractionate, analyze.

Synonym study

2. See decay.

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Related Words for decomposable

decaying, short-lived, unstable, decomposable, destructible

Examples from the Web for decomposable

Historical Examples of decomposable

Small, white, acid, permanent needles; not decomposable by water.
Merck's 1899 Manual
Merck & Co.
The old alchemists, who thought that gold was decomposable and therefore creatable, shrank from the idea of producing the diamond.
The Alkahest
Honore de Balzac
Manifestly, decomposable states of consciousness cannot exist before the states of consciousness out of which they are composed.
Essays on Education and Kindred Subjects
Herbert Spencer
On the other hand, if this stratum is soft or decomposable it will show as a depression, or "sag" as it is called.
Every-day Science: Volume VI. The Conquest of Nature
Henry Smith Williams
The molecule of Avogadro has always been a decomposable particle.
The Story of Alchemy and the Beginnings of Chemistry
M. M. Pattison Muir

British Dictionary definitions for decomposable

decompose

verb

to break down (organic matter) or (of organic matter) to be broken down physically and chemically by bacterial or fungal action; rot
chem to break down or cause to break down into simpler chemical compounds
to break up or separate into constituent parts
(tr) maths to express in terms of a number of independent simpler components, as a set as a canonical union of disjoint subsets, or a vector into orthogonal components

Derived Formsdecomposable, adjectivedecomposability, noundecomposition (ˌdiːkɒmpəˈzɪʃən), noun

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for decomposable

decompose

1750s, "to separate into components," from de- "opposite of" + compose. Sense of "putrefy" is first recorded 1777. Related: Decomposed; decomposing.