Definition of "decay" in English

noun

1. (ecology, medicine) The process or result of being gradually decomposed; rot, decomposition.

2. A deterioration of condition; loss of status, quality, strength, or fortune.

   • civic and moral decay
   • systemic decay

3. (obsolete) Overthrow, downfall, destruction, ruin.

4. (programming) The situation, in programming languages such as C, where an array loses its type and dimensions and is reduced to a pointer, for example by passing it to a function.

verb

1. (intransitive) To deteriorate, to get worse, to lose strength or health, to decline in quality.

   • The pair loved to take pictures in the decaying hospital on forty-third street.

2. (intransitive, of organic material) To rot, to go bad.

   • The cat's body decayed rapidly.

3. (intransitive, transitive, physics, chemistry, of an unstable atom) To change by undergoing fission, by emitting radiation, or by capturing or losing one or more electrons; to undergo radioactive decay.

4. (intransitive, transitive, physics, of a quantum system) To undergo optical decay, that is, to relax to a less excited state, usually by emitting a photon or phonon.

5. (intransitive, aviation) Loss of airspeed due to drag.

6. (transitive) To cause to rot or deteriorate.

   • The extreme humidity decayed the wooden sculptures in the museum's collection in a matter of years.

7. (programming, intransitive) Of an array: to lose its type and dimensions and be reduced to a pointer, for example when passed to a function.