putrescent

[ pyoo-tres-uhnt ]
See synonyms for putrescent on Thesaurus.com
adjective
  1. becoming putrid; undergoing putrefaction.

  2. of or relating to putrefaction.

Origin of putrescent

1
1725–35; <Latin putrēscent- (stem of putrēscēns), present participle of putrēscere to grow rotten

Other words from putrescent

  • pu·tres·cence, pu·tres·cen·cy, noun
  • non·pu·tres·cence, noun
  • non·pu·tres·cent, adjective

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use putrescent in a sentence

  • By the next day, without changing shape, it has turned a repulsive brown; presently it dissolves into noisome putrescence.

    More Hunting Wasps | J. Henri Fabre
  • Rossetti thought that the "new French School," in which Whistler had been trained, was "simply putrescence and decomposition."

    The Life of James McNeill Whistler | Elizabeth Robins Pennell
  • Miss Van Tuyn was not going to allow herself to be influenced by the putrescence of Garstin's mind.

    December Love | Robert Hichens
  • Even Hegel said that wars invigorate humanity just as the storm preserves the sea from putrescence.

    The Psychology of Nations | G.E. Partridge
  • It is essentially bottomless, cancerous; a putrescence through the constitution of the people is indicated by this galled place.

British Dictionary definitions for putrescent

putrescent

/ (pjuːˈtrɛsənt) /


adjective
  1. becoming putrid; rotting

  2. characterized by or undergoing putrefaction

Origin of putrescent

1
C18: from Latin putrescere to become rotten

Derived forms of putrescent

  • putrescence, noun

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012