Dissolve vs Decay - What's the difference?
dissolve | decay |
To terminate a union of multiple members actively, as by disbanding
To destroy, make disappear
To liquify, melt into a fluid
* Shakespeare
To be melted, changed into a fluid
(chemistry) To disintegrate chemically into a solution by immersion into a liquid or gas.
(chemistry) To be disintegrated by such immersion.
To disperse, drive apart a group of persons.
* Shakespeare
To break the continuity of; to disconnect; to loosen; to undo; to separate.
* Fairfax
* The Declaration of Independence
(legal) To annul; to rescind; to discharge or release.
(cinematography) To shift from one shot to another by having the former fade out as the latter fades in.
To resolve itself as by dissolution
(obsolete) To solve; to clear up; to resolve.
* Tennyson
* Bible, Daniel v. 16
To relax by pleasure; to make powerless.
* Dryden
(cinematography) A film punctuation in which there is a gradual transition from one scene to the next.
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
Decay is a synonym of dissolve.
In transitive terms the difference between dissolve and decay
is that dissolve is to break the continuity of; to disconnect; to loosen; to undo; to separate while decay is to cause to rot or deteriorate.In intransitive terms the difference between dissolve and decay
is that dissolve is to resolve itself as by dissolution while decay is to deteriorate, to get worse, to lose strength or health, to decline in quality.dissolve
English
(dissolution)Verb
(dissolv)- ''The ruling party or coalition sometimes dissolves parliament early when the polls are favorable, hoping to reconvene with a larger majority
- as if the world were all dissolved to tears
- Nothing can dissolve us.
- Down fell the duke, his joints dissolved asunder.
- For one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another.
- to dissolve an injunction
- dissolved the mystery
- Make interpretations and dissolve doubts.
- Angels dissolved in hallelujahs lie.
Synonyms
* melt * (cinematography) fade outDerived terms
* dissolvable * dissolverAntonyms
* (terminate a union of multiple members actively) establish, foundSee also
* meltNoun
(en noun)Synonyms
* fade outdecay
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.
