Dispose vs Decay - What's the difference?

As verbs the difference between dispose and decay

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

As an adjective dispose

is organized, placed in a certain fashion, arranged.

As a noun decay is

the process or result of being gradually decomposed.

dispose

English

(wikipedia dispose)

Verb

(dispos)

To eliminate or to get rid of something.

To distribute and put in place.

*1600 , (William Shakespeare), , act 4, scene III

*:Now, dear soldiers, march away: / And how thou pleasest, God, dispose the day!

*1811 , (Jane Austen), (Sense and Sensibility) , chapter 6

*:Marianne’s pianoforte was unpacked and properly disposed of, and Elinor’s drawing were affixed to the walls of their sitting rooms.

*1934 , (Rex Stout), edition, ISBN 0553278193, page 47:

*:I sat down within three feet of the entrance door, and I had no sooner got disposed than the door opened and a man came in.

To deal out; to assign to a use.

*(John Evelyn) (1620-1706)

*:what he designed to bestow on her funeral, he would rather dispose among the poor

To incline.

: (Used here intransitively in the passive voice)

*(John Dryden) (1631-1700)

*:Endure and conquer; Jove will soon dispose / To future good our past and present woes.

*(Francis Bacon) (1561-1626)

*:Suspicions dispose kings to tyranny, husbands to jealousy, and wise men to irresolution and melancholy.

*:At twilight in the summeron the floor.

(lb) To bargain; to make terms.

*(William Shakespeare) (c.1564–1616)

*:She had disposed with Caesar.

(lb) To regulate; to adjust; to settle; to determine.

*(John Dryden) (1631-1700)

*:the knightly forms of combat to dispose

Synonyms

* incline * discard

Antonyms

* indispose * disincline

Derived terms

* disposition * disposal * dispose of

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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