different between lower vs decay

English

Etymology 1

low +? -er (comparative suffix)

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /?l???/
• (US) IPA^(key): /?lo??/
• Rhymes: -???(r)
• Rhymes: -a?.?(?)

Adjective

lower

1. comparative form of low: more low
2. bottom; more towards the bottom than the middle of an object
3. Situated on lower ground, nearer a coast, or more southerly.

4. (geology, of strata or geological time periods) older

Antonyms

• (more low): higher
• (bottom): upper
• (older): upper

Derived terms

Translations

Adverb

lower

1. comparative form of low: more low

Verb

lower (third-person singular simple present lowers, present participle lowering, simple past and past participle lowered)

1. (transitive) To let descend by its own weight, as something suspended; to let down

   lower a bucket into a well

   to lower a sail of a boat

2. (transitive) to pull down

   to lower a flag

   • 1833 (first publication), Alfred Tennyson, A Dream of Fair Women

     Lower'd softly with a threefold cord of love
     Down to a silent grave.

3. (transitive) To reduce the height of

   lower a fence or wall

   lower a chimney or turret

4. (transitive) To depress as to direction

   lower the aim of a gun

5. (transitive) To make less elevated

   to lower one's ambition, aspirations, or hopes

6. (transitive) To reduce the degree, intensity, strength, etc., of

   lower the temperature

   lower one's vitality

   lower distilled liquors

7. (transitive) To bring down; to humble

   lower one's pride

8. (reflexive) (lower oneself) To humble oneself; to do something one considers to be beneath one's dignity.

   I could never lower myself enough to buy second-hand clothes.

9. (transitive) To reduce (something) in value, amount, etc.

   lower the price of goods

   lower the interest rate

10. (intransitive) To fall; to sink; to grow less; to diminish; to decrease

    The river lowered as rapidly as it rose.

11. (intransitive) To decrease in value, amount, etc.

Synonyms

• (let (something) descend by its own weight, such as a bucket or sail): bring down
• (reduce the height of, as a fence or chimney): shorten
• (depress as to direction, as a gun):
• (make less elevated as to object, as ambitions or hopes): reduce
• (reduce the degree, intensity, strength, etc., of, as temperature): reduce, turn down
• (transitive: to humble):
• (reflexive: to humble oneself): be humble
• (reduce (something) in value, amount, etc): cut, reduce
• (intransitive: grow less): die off, drop, fall, fall off, shrink
• (intransitive: decrease in value): become/get smaller, become/get lower, lessen, reduce

Derived terms

• lower the boom
• lower the tone

Translations

Etymology 2

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /?la??/, /?la?.?/
• (US) IPA^(key): /?la??/, /?la?.?/

Verb

lower (third-person singular simple present lowers, present participle lowering, simple past and past participle lowered)

1. Alternative spelling of lour

Related terms

• loweringly

Anagrams

• owler, rowel

Scanian

Etymology

From Old Norse lágr, from Proto-Germanic *l?gaz.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [lé???], [l?????]

Adjective

lower m

1. low

English

Etymology

From Middle English decayen, dekeyen (“to decrease, diminish”), from Anglo-Norman decaeir (“to fall away, decay, decline”), from Medieval Latin *d?cadere, restored form of Latin decidere (“to fall away, fail, sink, perish”), from de (“down”) + cadere (“to fall”); compare decadent and decadence.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /d??ke?/
• Rhymes: -e?
• (US) enPR: d?-k??, IPA^(key): /di.?ke?/

Noun

decay (countable and uncountable, plural decays)

1. The process or result of being gradually decomposed.
2. A deterioration of condition; loss of status or fortune.

Derived terms

Related terms

• deciduous

Translations

Verb

decay (third-person singular simple present decays, present participle decaying, simple past and past participle decayed)

1. (intransitive) To deteriorate, to get worse, to lose strength or health, to decline in quality.

   The pair loved to take pictures in the decaying hospital on forty-third street.

   1. (intransitive, electronics, of storage media or the data on them) To undergo bit rot, that is, gradual degradation.
   2. (intransitive, computing, of software) To undergo software rot, that is, to fail to be updated in a changing environment, so as to eventually become legacy or obsolete.
   3. (intransitive, physics, of a satellite's orbit) To undergo prolonged reduction in altitude (above the orbited body).
      • 2009, Francis Lyall, Paul B. Larsen, Space Law: A Treatise, page 120:

        Damaged on lift-off, Skylab was left in orbit until its orbit decayed.

2. (intransitive, of organic material) To rot, to go bad.

   The cat's body decayed rapidly.

3. (intransitive, transitive, physics, chemistry, of an unstable atom) To change by undergoing fission, by emitting radiation, or by capturing or losing one or more electrons.
   • 2005, Encyclopedia of Earth Science (edited by Timothy M. Kusky; ?ISBN, page 349:

     Uranium decays to radium through a long series of steps with a cumulative half-life of 4.4 billion years.

4. (intransitive, transitive, physics, of a quantum system) To undergo optical decay, that is, to relax to a less excited state, usually by emitting a photon or phonon.
5. (intransitive, aviation) Loss of airspeed due to drag.
6. (transitive) To cause to rot or deteriorate.

   The extreme humidity decayed the wooden sculptures in the museum's collection in a matter of years.

Translations

Further reading

• decay in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• decay in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.

Anagrams

• Dacey