Ebb vs Decay - What's the difference?
ebb | decay | Synonyms |
The receding movement of the tide.
* (rfdate) Shelley
A gradual decline.
* (rfdate) Roscommon
A low state; a state of depression.
* (rfdate) Dryden
* 2002 , (Joyce Carol Oates), The New Yorker , 22 & 29 April
A European bunting, .
to flow back or recede
to fall away or decline
to fish with stakes and nets that serve to prevent the fish from getting back into the sea with the ebb
To cause to flow back.
low, shallow
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
Ebb is a synonym of decay.
In lang=en terms the difference between ebb and decay
is that ebb is to cause to flow back while decay is to cause to rot or deteriorate.As nouns the difference between ebb and decay
is that ebb is the receding movement of the tide while decay is the process or result of being gradually decomposed.As verbs the difference between ebb and decay
is that ebb is to flow back or recede while decay is to deteriorate, to get worse, to lose strength or health, to decline in quality.As an adjective ebb
is low, shallow.ebb
English
Noun
(en noun)- The boats will go out on the ebb .
- Thou shoreless flood which in thy ebb and flow / Claspest the limits of morality!
- Thus all the treasure of our flowing years, / Our ebb of life for ever takes away.
- Painting was then at its lowest ebb .
- A "lowest ebb'" implies something singular and finite, but for many of us, born in the Depression and raised by parents distrustful of fortune, an "' ebb " might easily have lasted for years.
Derived terms
* ebb and flow * ebb tideAntonyms
* flood * flowVerb
(en verb)- The tides ebbed at noon .
- The dying man's strength ebbed away .
- (Ford)
Synonyms
ebb away, ebb down, ebb off, ebb out, reflux, waneAdjective
(er)- The water there is otherwise very low and ebb . (Holland)
decay
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.
