as in decomposition
the process by which dead organic matter separates into simpler substances in the far corner of the walk-in refrigerator was a crate of cucumbers in an advanced stage of putrescence

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Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of putrescence In 19th-century cities, when waste disposal was a private matter and not yet a public responsibility, households lived close to their own putrescence. Curbed, 12 Aug. 2022 There was no evidence to suggest the existence of four receptor classes, rather than three, or five, or ten; nor was there any serious reason to believe that acidity and goatiness—but not, say, florality or putrescence—were fundamentals of odor. Scott Sayare, Harper's Magazine, 23 Nov. 2021 In various states of putrescence—worms wriggling, entrails dangling—cadavers rise from their graves to join the Dance of Death. Felipe Fernández-Armesto, WSJ, 24 Apr. 2020 At the opposite end of spring's floral awakening lingers the rot of deciduous fall: the putrescence of stranded, spent salmon; the sweet stench of walrus or whale melting on Nome's driftwood beaches. Michael Engelhard, Alaska Dispatch News, 1 July 2017

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Cite this Entry

“Putrescence.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/putrescence. Accessed 21 Nov. 2024.

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