decompose
verb (used with object)
to separate or resolve into constituent parts or elements; disintegrate.
was decomposing
-
past progressiveof decompose.past progressive
Used to describe an ongoing action or continuous state that was happening at a specific time in the past.
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.
Even when the faeces was decomposing underground, pathogens survived for much longer than expected.
From Nature ● Sep. 12, 2017
No, the caller said, her body was decomposing, and nonrelatives were not allowed; the city would now take care of the burial.
From New York Times ● Oct. 27, 2016
But the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries were one of those rare periods when a lot of people cared, because their sense of the world was decomposing so dramatically.
From The New Yorker ● Aug. 29, 2016
“We picked up everything we could. It was decomposing, so there’s oil residue and things like that on the beach.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 20, 2016
The other survived several days, but gradually drooped as the body of his late companion was decomposing.
From Curiosities of Medical Experience by J. G. (John Gideon) Millingen
