decompose

See also: décomposé and décompose

English

Etymology

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

Pronunciation

• enPR: dē"kəm-pōz', IPA^(key): /ˌdiːkəmˈpəʊz/

• Audio (Southern England)

  (file)

• 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; to disintegrate or fragment.

   Various fungi can decompose wood.

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

   Plastics can take centuries to decompose.

Antonyms

• assemble

Derived terms

• decomposer
• photodecompose
• decomposition

Translations

to separate

• Bulgarian: разглобявам (bg) (razglobjavam)
• Catalan: descompondre (ca)
• Czech: rozložit (cs)
• Dutch: ontbinden (nl)
• Estonian: lagundama
• Finnish: hajottaa (fi)
• French: décomposer (fr)
• 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
• 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)

to decay

• Bulgarian: разлагам се (razlagam se)
• Catalan: descompondre (ca)
• 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
• 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)

Italian

Verb

decompose

1. third-person singular past historic of decomporre