PUTREFACTION

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does putrefaction mean? 

• PUTREFACTION (noun)
  The noun PUTREFACTION has 3 senses:

1. a state of decay usually accompanied by an offensive odor

2. (biology) the process of decay caused by bacterial or fungal action

3. moral perversion; impairment of virtue and moral principles

  Familiarity information: PUTREFACTION used as a noun is uncommon.

 Dictionary entry details 

• PUTREFACTION (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A state of decay usually accompanied by an offensive odor

Classified under:

Nouns denoting stable states of affairs

Synonyms:

putrefaction; rot

Hypernyms ("putrefaction" is a kind of...):

decay (an inferior state resulting from the process of decaying)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "putrefaction"):

corruption; putrescence; putridness; rottenness (in a state of progressive putrefaction)

Derivation:

putrefy (become putrid; decay with an offensive smell)

Sense 2

Meaning:

(biology) the process of decay caused by bacterial or fungal action

Classified under:

Nouns denoting natural processes

Synonyms:

breakdown; decomposition; putrefaction; rot; rotting

Hypernyms ("putrefaction" is a kind of...):

decay (the process of gradually becoming inferior)

Domain category:

biological science; biology (the science that studies living organisms)

Derivation:

putrefy (become putrid; decay with an offensive smell)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Moral perversion; impairment of virtue and moral principles

Classified under:

Nouns denoting attributes of people and objects

Synonyms:

corruption; degeneracy; depravation; depravity; putrefaction

Context example:

Rome had fallen into moral putrefaction

Hypernyms ("putrefaction" is a kind of...):

immorality (the quality of not being in accord with standards of right or good conduct)

 Context examples 

Death of tissue, usually in considerable mass and generally associated with loss of vascular (nutritive) supply and followed by bacterial invasion and putrefaction.

(Gangrene, NCI Thesaurus)