Decoy vs Decay - What's the difference?

In transitive terms the difference between decoy and decay

is that decoy is to lead into danger by artifice; to lure into a net or snare; to entrap while decay is to cause to rot or deteriorate.

As nouns the difference between decoy and decay

is that decoy is a person or object meant to lure something to danger while decay is the process or result of being gradually decomposed.

As verbs the difference between decoy and decay

is that decoy is to act or use a decoy while decay is to deteriorate, to get worse, to lose strength or health, to decline in quality.

decoy

English

Noun

(en noun)

A person or object meant to lure something to danger.

A real or fake animal used by hunters to lure game.

Verb

(en verb)

To act or use a decoy.

To lead into danger by artifice; to lure into a net or snare; to entrap.

to decoy''' troops into an ambush; to '''decoy ducks into a net

* Goldsmith

E'en while fashion's brightest arts decoy , / The heart, distrusting, asks if this be joy.

Derived terms

* deke

Anagrams

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.

External links

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