decay

verb1 of 2

to be slowly broken down by natural processes

• “Flies have a keen sense of smell for decaying matter.”Tatoeba
• “Though the body may decay, the idea never dies.”Tatoeba

Sentences from Tatoeba show real usage. A word can have several meanings, so a sentence may use another one.

noun2 of 2

The process or result of being gradually decomposed.