Past tense of decay
regular verb
The past tense of decay is decayed. The past participle is also decayed.
Forms of decay
| Base form (V1) | decay /dɪˈkeɪ/ |
|---|---|
| Past tense (V2) | decayed /dɪˈkeɪd/ |
| Past participle (V3) | decayed /dɪˈkeɪd/ |
| Present participle | decaying |
| Third person singular | decays /dɪˈkeɪz/ |
Decayed in a sentence
- Damaged on lift-off, Skylab was left in orbit until its orbit decayed.2009, Francis Lyall, Paul B. Larsen, Space Law: A Treatise, page 120
- The cat's body decayed rapidly.
- The dentist pulled out the decayed tooth and put in a bridge.From the entry bridge
- The decayed remains of the pilot's shirt showed where the plane had been shot down.From the entry decayed
- The settlement is circumvallated by a stake-fence, so decayed that one may gain ingress at a dozen places.2004, David Mitchell, Cloud Atlas, London: Sceptre (Hodder and Stoughton), →ISBN. From the entry circumvallate
Meaning of decay
- noun Rot; any processes or result of organic matter being gradually decomposed, especially by microbial action.
- noun Deterioration of condition; loss of status, quality, strength, or fortune.
- noun Radioactive decay; decomposition of an atom or its nucleus.
Questions about the past tense of decay
- What is the past tense of decay?
- The past tense of decay is decayed.
- What is the past participle of decay?
- The past participle of decay is decayed.
- Is decay a regular or irregular verb?
- Decay is a regular verb: its past tense adds -ed.
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: decay (page history and authors) and the entries of its forms. Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws left out forms marked obsolete, archaic, rare or dialectal and added the examples. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Cite this page: “Past tense of decay.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/past-tense/decay. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.