1. Destruction of an organic substance by slow combustion or gradual oxidation. 2. SYN: putrefaction. 3. To deteriorate; to undergo slow combustion or putrefaction. 4. In dentistry, caries. 5. In psychology, loss of information registered by the senses and processed into short-term memory. SEE ALSO: memory. 6. Loss of radioactivity with time; spontaneous emission of radiation or charged particles or both from an unstable nucleus. [L. de, down, + cado, to fall]
- free induction d. (FID) in magnetic resonance imaging, the d. curve that is detected by the receiver coil after the application of an excitation pulse, without additional pulses.
* * *
decay n
1 a) ROT (1) specif aerobic decomposition of proteins chiefly by bacteria
b) the product of decay
2 a) spontaneous decrease in the number of radioactive atoms in radioactive material
b) spontaneous disintegration (as of an atom or a nuclear particle)
* * *
n.
(in bacteriology) the decomposition of organic matter due to microbial action.
* * *
de·cay (de-kaґ) [de- + L. cadere to fall] 1. the gradual decomposition of dead organic matter. the process or stage of decline, as in aging.Medical dictionary. 2011.