What's the difference between
and
Enter two words to compare and contrast their definitions, origins, and synonyms to better understand how those words are related.

Decay vs Reduction - What's the difference?

decay | reduction | Related terms |

Decay is a related term of reduction.


As nouns the difference between decay and reduction

is that decay is the process or result of being gradually decomposed while reduction is reduction.

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.

    reduction

    English

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • The act, process, or result of reducing.
  • The amount or rate by which something is reduced, e.g. in price.
  • A 5% reduction in robberies
  • (chemistry) A reaction in which electrons are gained and valence is reduced; often by the removal of oxygen or the addition of hydrogen.
  • (cooking) The process of rapidly boiling a sauce to concentrate it.
  • (mathematics) The rewriting of an expression into a simpler form.
  • (computability theory) a transformation of one problem into another problem, such as mapping reduction or polynomial reduction.
  • (music) An arrangement for a far smaller number of parties, e.g. a keyboard solo based on a full opera.
  • (philosophy, phenomenology) A philosophical procedure intended to reveal the objects of consciousness as pure phenomena. (See phenomenological reduction.)
  • (medicine) A medical procedure to restore a fracture or dislocation to the correct alignment.
  • Antonyms

    * elevation * expansion * increase * promotion * (chemistry): oxidation

    Anagrams

    * introduce