Loading page
Syllable division derived from spelling — this word is not in the pronouncing dictionary, so no phonetic transcription is shown rather than a guessed one.
putrefaction is a noun meaning "a state of decay usually accompanied by an offensive odor". It carries 3 recorded senses.
a state of decay usually accompanied by an offensive odor
(biology) the process of decay caused by bacterial or fungal action
biology
moral perversion; impairment of virtue and moral principles
“the luxury and corruption among the upper classes”
“moral degeneracy followed intellectual degeneration”
“its brothels, its opium parlors, its depravity”
“Rome had fallen into moral putrefaction”
Forms marked · are formed by the regular rule rather than recorded in the source data. English keeps a few hundred irregulars and the rest follow the pattern, so the rule is right far more often than not — but it is a rule, and the mark says so.
Definitions, synonyms and semantic relations for putrefaction come from Princeton University’s WordNet. Commonness is measured against a corpus of everyday English. Full sources and licences.