adj, verb ·Uncommon ·Advanced level

Definitions

Verb

1. 1
   To affect with gangrene, cause to gangrene, mortify. transitive
2. 2
   undergo necrosis wordnet
3. 3
   To become gangrenous. intransitive

Adjective

1. 1
   Affected with gangrene; gangrenous, necrotic. not-comparable
2. 2
   Dark and withered as though dead. not-comparable

Synonyms

All synonyms

break upcankercorruptcrumbledecaydecompose

Etymology

Etymology 1

From sphacel (“gangrene”) + -ate (verb-forming suffix).

Etymology 2

From sphacel + -ate (adjective-forming suffix).

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