Decompose

//ˌdiːkəmˈpəʊz// verb

verb ·Moderate ·High school level

Definitions

Verb
  1. 1
    To separate or break down (something) into its components. transitive

    "Various fungi can decompose wood."

  2. 2
    separate (substances) into constituent elements or parts wordnet
  3. 3
    To rot, decay or putrefy. intransitive

    "Plastics can take centuries to decompose."

  4. 4
    break down wordnet
  5. 5
    lose a stored charge, magnetic flux, or current wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms
break downdisintegratedisintegratedieablateanalyze

Example

More examples

"Rocks take time to decompose, especially quartz and feldspar."

Etymology

Borrowed from Middle French décomposer. Equivalent to de- + compose.

Related phrases

break down

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.