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Decay vs Pollution - What's the difference?

decay | pollution |

As nouns the difference between decay and pollution

is that decay is the process or result of being gradually decomposed while pollution is the act of polluting or the state of being polluted, especially the contamination of the environment by harmful substances.

As a verb decay

is to deteriorate, to get worse, to lose strength or health, to decline in quality.

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.

    pollution

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • The act of polluting or the state of being polluted, especially the contamination of the environment by harmful substances.
  • * {{quote-book, year=2006, author=, title=Internal Combustion
  • , chapter=1 citation , passage=If successful, Edison and Ford—in 1914—would move society away from the
  • Something that pollutes; a pollutant.
  • (archaic) Physical defilement.
  • (medicine, obsolete) The emission of semen at other times than in sexual intercourse.
  • * 1839 , Robley Dunglison, Medical Lexicon'', Blanchard, page 492 defines ''POLLUTION as:
  • The excretion of seminal liquor or sperm, at other times than during coition. When occasioned by a voluntary act it is called, simply, Pollution'' or ''Masturbation'' (q.v.); when excited, during sleep, by lascivious dreams, it takes the name ''Noctur'nal pollution, Exoneiro'sis, Oneirog'mos, Oneirog'onos, Gonorrhœ'a dormien'tium, G. oneirog'onos, G. Vera, G. libidino'sa, Proflu'vium Sem'inis, Spermatorrhœ'a, Paronir'ia salax, Night pollution.

    Synonyms

    * soilage * (masturbation) self-pollution

    Antonyms

    * conservation * purity

    Derived terms

    * air pollution * light pollution * noise pollution * self-pollution * soil pollution * water pollution