decompose

See also: décomposé and décompose

English

Etymology

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

Pronunciation

• enPR: kəm-pōzʹ
  • (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˌdiːkəmˈpəʊz/

    • Audio (Southern England):

      (file)

  • (General American, Canada) IPA^(key): /ˌdikəmˈpoʊz/
  • (General Australian) IPA^(key): /ˌdiːkəmˈpəʉz/, /ˌdiːkəmˈpɐʉz/
  • (New Zealand) IPA^(key): /ˌdiːkəmˈpɐʉz/
• Hyphenation: de‧com‧pose
• Rhymes: -əʊz

Verb

decompose (third-person singular simple present decomposes, present participle decomposing, simple past and past participle decomposed)

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

   Synonyms: disintegrate, fragment

   Antonyms: compose; assemble; recompose

   Coordinate term: disassemble

   Various fungi can decompose wood.

   Our team decomposed this task into several subtasks that could be successfully distributed.

2. (intransitive) To rot, decay or putrefy.

   Synonym: break down

   Plastics can take centuries to decompose.

   • 2025 February 19, Mike Lewis, “Tragedy at Moorgate”, in RAIL, number 1029, page 59, about the Moorgate tube crash:

     Nor had the post mortem on Newson's body revealed any illness or other physical condition that might have prevented him from applying the brake, although after four days in the oven-like heat of the wreckage, the body was so badly decomposed as to make any reliable post mortem results unlikely.

Derived terms

• decomposability
• decomposable
• decomposer
• decomposition
• eigendecompose
• nondecomposed
• photodecompose
• semidecomposed
• undecomposed

Translations

to separate

• Bulgarian: разглобявам (bg) (razglobjavam)
• Catalan: descompondre (ca)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 分解 (zh) (fēnjiě)

• Czech: rozložit (cs)
• Dutch: ontbinden (nl)
• Estonian: lagundama
• Finnish: hajottaa (fi)
• French: décomposer (fr)
• Galician: descompor (gl)
• German: zerlegen, zerteilen (transitiv); zerlegen, teilen (reflexiv); desintegrieren, dekomponieren (de)
• Italian: decomporre (it)
• Japanese: ばらす (ja) (barasu), 分解する (ja) (bunkai suru)
• Maori: whakapirau
• Polish: rozkładać (pl) impf, rozłożyć (pl) pf
• Portuguese: decompor (pt), descompor (pt)
• Romanian: descompune (ro)
• Russian: разлага́ть (ru) impf (razlagátʹ), разложи́ть (ru) pf (razložítʹ), разбира́ть (ru) impf (razbirátʹ), разобра́ть (ru) pf (razobrátʹ)
• Spanish: descomponer (es)
• Ukrainian: розклада́ти impf (rozkladáty), розкла́сти pf (rozklásty)

to decay

• Arabic: تَحَلَّلَ (taḥallala)
• Bulgarian: разлагам се (razlagam se)
• Catalan: descompondre (ca)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 腐爛 / 腐烂 (zh) (fǔlàn)

• Dutch: ontbinden (nl), vergaan (nl), verrotten (nl)
• Estonian: kõdunema
• Finnish: maatua (fi), lahota (fi), mädäntyä (fi), mädätä (fi)
• French: se décomposer (fr)
• German: verrotten (de), verfallen (de), verfaulen (de), zerfallen (de), sich zersetzen (de)
• Greek: αποσυντίθεμαι (el) (aposyntíthemai), σαπίζω (el) (sapízo), λιώνω (el) (lióno)
• Hawaiian: hoʻohāpopopo
• Hungarian: lebomlik (hu)
• Italian: decomporsi (it)
• Japanese: 腐る (ja) (kusaru), 分解する (ja) (bunkai suru)
• Polish: rozłożyć się (pl) pf, rozkładać się (pl) impf, rozpadać się (pl) impf
• Portuguese: decompor (pt)
• Romanian: descompune (ro)
• Russian: разлага́ться (ru) impf (razlagátʹsja), разложи́ться (ru) pf (razložítʹsja)
• Spanish: descomponerse (es)
• Turkish: sasımak (tr)
• Ukrainian: розклада́тися impf (rozkladátysja), розкла́стися pf (rozklástysja)

Italian

Verb

decompose

1. third-person singular past historic of decomporre