Degradation vs Decay - What's the difference?
degradation | decay |
The act of reducing in rank, character, or reputation, or of abasing; a lowering from one's standing or rank in office or society; diminution; as, the degradation of a peer, a knight, a general, or a bishop.
The state of being reduced in rank, character, or reputation; baseness; moral, physical, or intellectual degeneracy; disgrace; abasement; debasement.
Diminution or reduction of strength, efficacy, or value; degeneration; deterioration.
(geology) A gradual wearing down or wasting, as of rocks and banks, by the action of water, frost etc.
A deleterious change in the chemical structure, physical properties or appearance of a material from natural or artificial exposure.
The state or condition of a species or group which exhibits degraded forms; degeneration.
Arrest of development, or degeneration of any organ, or of the body as a whole.
The gradual breakdown of components of a material, as a result of a natural element, i.e.: heat, cold and wind.
The process or result of being gradually decomposed.
* 1895 , H. G. Wells, The Time Machine Chapter X
A deterioration of condition.
To deteriorate, to get worse, to lose strength or health, to decline in quality.
# (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).
(of organic material) To rot, to go bad.
(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:
(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.
* Shakespeare
As nouns the difference between degradation and decay
is that degradation is the act of reducing in rank, character, or reputation, or of abasing; a lowering from one's standing or rank in office or society; diminution; as, the degradation of a peer, a knight, a general, or a bishop while decay is the process or result of being gradually decomposed.As a verb decay is
to deteriorate, to get worse, to lose strength or health, to decline in quality.degradation
English
(wikipedia degradation)Noun
(en noun)Derived terms
* biodegradationdecay
English
(wikipedia decay)Noun
- 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.
Derived terms
* bacterial decay * decayability * decayable * decayer * orbital decay * particle decay * radioactive decayVerb
(en verb)- The pair loved to take pictures in the decaying hospital on forty-third street.
- 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 .
- The cat's body decayed rapidly.
- Uranium decays to radium through a long series of steps with a cumulative half-life of 4.4 billion years.
- The extreme humidity decayed the wooden sculptures in the museum's collection in a matter of years.
- Infirmity, that decays the wise.
