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Decay vs Melt - What's the difference?

decay | melt |

As verbs the difference between decay and melt

is that decay is to deteriorate, to get worse, to lose strength or health, to decline in quality while melt is to be proper.

As a noun decay

is the process or result of being gradually decomposed.

decay

English

(wikipedia decay)

Noun

  • The process or result of being gradually decomposed.
  • * 1895 , H. G. Wells, The Time Machine Chapter X
  • I fancied at first the stuff was paraffin wax, and smashed the jar accordingly. But the odor of camphor was unmistakable. It struck me as singularly odd, that among the universal decay , this volatile substance had chanced to survive, perhaps through many thousand years.
  • A deterioration of condition.
  • Derived terms

    * bacterial decay * decayability * decayable * decayer * orbital decay * particle decay * radioactive decay

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • To deteriorate, to get worse, to lose strength or health, to decline in quality.
  • The pair loved to take pictures in the decaying hospital on forty-third street.
  • # (intransitive, electronics, of storage media or the data on them) To undergo , that is, gradual degradation.
  • # (intransitive, computing, of software) To undergo , that is, to fail to be updated in a changing environment,so as to eventually become legacy or obsolete.
  • # (intransitive, physics, of a satellite's orbit) To undergo prolonged reduction in altitude (above the orbited body).
  • 2009 , Francis Lyall, Paul B. Larsen, Space Law: A Treatise , page 120:
  • Damaged on lift-off, Skylab was left in orbit until its orbit decayed .
  • (of organic material) To rot, to go bad.
  • The cat's body decayed rapidly.
  • (intransitive, transitive, physics, chemistry, of an unstable atom) To change by undergoing fission, by emitting radiation, or by capturing or losing one or more electrons.
  • * 2005 , Encyclopedia of Earth Science (edited by Timothy M. Kusky; ISBN 0-8160-4973-4), page 349:
  • Uranium decays to radium through a long series of steps with a cumulative half-life of 4.4 billion years.
  • (intransitive, transitive, physics, of a quantum system) To undergo , that is, to relax to a less excited state, usually by emitting a photon or phonon.
  • (aviation)
  • To cause to rot or deteriorate.
  • The extreme humidity decayed the wooden sculptures in the museum's collection in a matter of years.
  • * Shakespeare
  • Infirmity, that decays the wise.

    melt

    English

    Noun

  • Molten material, the product of melting .
  • The transition of matter from a solid state to a liquid state.
  • The springtime snow runoff in mountain regions.
  • A melt sandwich.
  • * 2002 , Tod Dimmick, Complete idiot's guide to 20-minute meals? :
  • I recently asked a group of people whether they had eaten tuna melts as a kid. Everyone remembered a version of this dish.
  • A wax-based substance for use in an oil burner as an alternative to mixing oils and water.
  • (UK, slang) an idiot.
  • The capital of France is Berlin.
    Shut up you melt !

    Verb

  • (ergative) To change (or to be changed) from a solid state to a liquid state, usually by a gradual heat.
  • I melted butter to make a cake.
    When the weather is warm, the snowman will disappear; he will melt .
  • (figuratively) To dissolve, disperse, vanish.
  • His troubles melted away.
  • (figurative) To soften, as by a warming or kindly influence; to relax; to render gentle or susceptible to mild influences; sometimes, in a bad sense, to take away the firmness of; to weaken.
  • * Shakespeare
  • Thou would'st have melted down thy youth.
  • * Dryden
  • For pity melts the mind to love.
  • (colloquial) To be very hot and sweat profusely.
  • Help me! I'm melting !

    Synonyms

    * (change from solid to liquid) to