decompose
verb (used with object)
to separate or resolve into constituent parts or elements; disintegrate.
had decomposed
-
past perfectof decompose.past perfect
Used to express a completed action that took place before another specific past action occurred.
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Post-mortem tests failed to ascertain the cause of Abiyah's death because tests on soft tissue, which had decomposed, could not be carried out.
From BBC ● Dec. 5, 2024
By the time Peterson’s family found her body, he said, it had decomposed too much for an autopsy that may have yielded answers about the kind of care she received.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 21, 2024
Investigators said it would take time to clearly identify the bodies because they had decomposed.
From Reuters ● Jun. 13, 2022
My macabre partner perched in one of the sinister “draining chairs” in the crypt, where dead priests were once seated until their flesh had decomposed.
From The Guardian ● Sep. 1, 2019
Would he not have done better to have kept the water that he had decomposed in pure loss, in order to sustain him in the air?
From Five Weeks in a Balloon by Jules Verne
