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putrescent

putrescent

1 9.9
Starting to rot and smelling very bad
  • adjective
  • /pjuˈtrɛsənt/
translation icon : putrescente
  • Ignore this absolute putrescent travesty of a hotel.

Examples

  • Federico, let's play the putrescent game.

  • And if it was a swift reaction to the Holocaust that erupted like vile spit and vomit from that putrescent mound, I cannot say.

    Fiction book (1995)
  • And the good of those putrescent, little children!

  • Free grace has no need for the putrescent causality of such resources.

    Academic text (2006)
  • It's putrescent.

  • A rank odor, sweetly putrescent, infected the air.

    Fiction book (1990)
  • The "obituary" was, in fact, Sherrill's 1988 review of a biography of Cohn which (as Sherrill stated later) "went into great detail about Cohn's dying, to good purpose, since there was something quite fitting in the putrescent ending of this very putrescent fellow."

    Academic text (1993)
  • The "obituary" was, in fact, Sherrill's 1988 review of a biography of Cohn which (as Sherrill stated later) "went into great detail about Cohn's dying, to good purpose, since there was something quite fitting in the putrescent ending of this very putrescent fellow."

    Academic text (1993)
  • The putrescent smell from the garbage filled the room with a nauseating stench.

  • The putrescent fruit lay forgotten at the bottom of the basket, attracting flies and other pests.

Synonyms

rotten
vsputrescent
81 1.0

Gone bad and no longer good to eat or use

marks the beginning phase of breakdown, not severe final damage
putrid
vsputrescent
12 7.0

Rotting and smelling very bad

is the early stage, starting to break down and begin to smell bad
decayed
vsputrescent
1 3.9

Something like wood, teeth, or food that is soft and broken because it has rotted

describes the initial breaking down rather than a finished ruined state
rotted
vsputrescent
1 3.0

Damaged by decay so it is no longer safe or useful

refers to the starting process rather than the completed unsound condition

Antonyms

778 1.0

Recently made or gathered food that is not spoiled

How Decomposed

putrid
12 7.0
putrescent
1 9.9
fresh
778 1.0

Surface Forms

putrescent positive

Morphology

putrescent = putrid (semi-transparent) = putresc + ent

The adjective is formed with the regular suffix '-ent', but the root 'putresc-' is a Latinate combining form not a standalone English word; relation to 'putrid'/'putrefy' is helpful but not perfectly transparent to learners.

Etymology

The word putrescent comes from an old Latin word putrescere, which means 'to rot' or 'become rotten', and it shares the same root as putrid. So putrescent describes something that is starting to decay or smell rotten.