biodegrade
Americanverb (used without object)
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of biodegrade
First recorded in 1970–75; back formation from biodegradable
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.
See Examples For:
Wie’s group is developing versions of these robots that biodegrade after use, eliminating the need for surgical removal, and coatings that make the robots compatible with human tissue.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 1, 2025
The Environment for Development, a global research network, estimates that around a third are unusable items that end up in landfills -- mostly made from plastic-based materials like nylon and polyester that does not biodegrade.
From Barron's ● Oct. 13, 2025
One of the most common compounds is a polyester known as PLA, short for polylactic acid, which will biodegrade in an industrial compost setting.
From New York Times ● May 20, 2024
"We're trying to find replacements for materials that already exist, and make sure these replacements will biodegrade at the end of their useful life instead of collecting in the environment. That's not easy."
From Science Daily ● Mar. 21, 2024
The vast majority of these products cannot be recycled and can take hundreds of years to biodegrade in landfill sites.
From BBC ● Sep. 30, 2023
Once underwater, it is "technically impossible to neutralise", and can take decades to be biodegraded by marine micro-organisms.
From BBC ● Jan. 23, 2025
After 35 days, it had biodegraded by 82%.The biodegradation was calculated by measuring the amount of CO2 released from the material when it was buried in compost.
From Science Daily ● May 14, 2024
At intervals of 90 and 200 days, almost 100% of the petroleum-based microplastics were recovered, meaning none of it had biodegraded.
From Science Daily ● Mar. 21, 2024
It can be heavy or light, more or less biodegraded, depending on the same factors that affect oil in land-based deposits.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 6, 2021
Like other scientists, she said the report failed to explain how it reached its estimates on the amount of oil that was biodegraded naturally, or dispersed with chemicals.
From The Guardian ● Aug. 5, 2010
Audiences have seen countless times how this progression can devolve from one incarnation to the next, as if a property were subject to imaginative biodegrading.
From Washington Post ● Dec. 19, 2022
Fully biodegrading PVA requires the presence of the right species and concentration of microorganisms, which also have to be trained to break the compound down, Rolsky said.
From Washington Post ● Nov. 15, 2022
Smoke and biodegrading remnants release carbon, methane and other greenhouse gases into the air.
From Washington Times ● Feb. 14, 2018
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
