PUTREFACTION

 Dictionary entry overview: What does putrefaction mean? 

• PUTREFACTION (noun)
  The noun PUTREFACTION has 3 senses:

1. a state of decay usually accompanied by an offensive odor
2. (biology) the process of decay caused by bacterial or fungal action
3. moral perversion; impairment of virtue and moral principles

  Familiarity information: PUTREFACTION used as a noun is uncommon.

 Dictionary entry details 

• PUTREFACTION (noun)

Meaning:

A state of decay usually accompanied by an offensive odor

Classified under:

Nouns denoting stable states of affairs

Synonyms:

putrefaction; rot

Hypernyms ("putrefaction" is a kind of...):

decay (an inferior state resulting from the process of decaying)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "putrefaction"):

corruption; putrescence; putridness; rottenness (in a state of progressive putrefaction)

Meaning:

(biology) the process of decay caused by bacterial or fungal action

Classified under:

Nouns denoting natural processes

Synonyms:

rotting; putrefaction; rot; decomposition

Hypernyms ("putrefaction" is a kind of...):

decay (the process of gradually becoming inferior)

Domain category:

biological science; biology (the science that studies living organisms)

Meaning:

Moral perversion; impairment of virtue and moral principles

Classified under:

Nouns denoting attributes of people and objects

Synonyms:

depravation; depravity; degeneracy; putrefaction; corruption

Context examples:

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

Hypernyms ("putrefaction" is a kind of...):

immorality (the quality of not being in accord with standards of right or good conduct)