decomposition

«decomposition» in Mova's school dictionary: The natural breaking down of dead plants and animals into… — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples, with 1 sentence of Mova's corpora that use it.

part of speech

noun (decomposition, uncountable)

meaning for a pupil

1) (science) The natural breaking down of dead plants and animals into simpler things, by bacteria, fungi and worms; rotting. tree →

2) (maths) Breaking a number or shape into smaller parts (partitioning). tree →

3) (science) The breaking of a substance into simpler substances by a chemical reaction. tree →

sense in the lessons

In science: decomposition returns nutrients to the soil; decomposers such as fungi do it; compost heaps. In maths: number decomposition, like 47 = 40 + 7, or breaking a shape into rectangles to find area. In chemistry: thermal decomposition.

examples

• Fallen leaves turn into soil by decomposition. tree →
• Worms and fungi help decomposition. tree →
• Decomposition is faster when it is warm and damp. tree →
• Use decomposition: 36 = 30 + 6. tree →
• We used decomposition to find the area of the L-shape. tree →
• Heating some rocks causes thermal decomposition. tree →

note

Verb: decompose; decomposer is a living thing that breaks down dead matter. In maths, decomposition does not change the total: the parts add back to the whole. «Decomposition» in subtraction (UK) also means exchanging a ten for ten ones.

In the corpora

• Worms, fungi and bacteria break down dead plants and animals into soil; this is called decomposition.

Trees and pragmatics

Every meaning and example of «decomposition» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.