putrefy
Example Sentences
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By the Reagan era, the stasis was obvious; in the first two decades of the 21st century, it began to putrefy.
From Salon ● Apr. 19, 2026
A: Obviously, meat will putrefy and smell awful.
From Seattle Times ● Feb. 28, 2023
They attract rats, flies and other pests and tend to putrefy rather than break down, causing nasty smells, according to the Riverside County guide.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 12, 2020
By the time your meat would encounter enough bacteria to be able to "putrefy," it has long since been absorbed in the small intestine.
From US News ● May 12, 2015
After several weeks, their skin began to putrefy and flake off.
From "Escape from Camp 14: One Man's Remarkable Odyssey from North Korea to Freedom in the West" by Blaine Harden
Aristotle described them as “exceedingly fond of putrefied flesh.”
From National Geographic ● Feb. 8, 2024
Mules killed in the assault putrefied and attracted swarms of maggots.
From New York Times ● Jan. 12, 2024
Other off-the-shelf fixes discourage pests by creating a “nasal irritation” or have an offensive taste with ingredients such as putrefied egg solids, garlic oil and hot pepper.
From Seattle Times ● May 20, 2023
You may feel a rush of pity for Moore, whose stylized luminosity has been far better served in other ’50s settings, and especially for Damon, whose handsome features seem almost putrefied with self-loathing.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 25, 2017
Then the beak opened and vomited a stream of putrefied fluid.
From "The Red Pony" by John Steinbeck
One of his earliest patients was a man already in the black “sphacelus” stage, the limb putrefying while still attached.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 6, 2026
The lingering stench from putrefying deer carcasses is so powerful in Richie King’s pickup truck that his neighbours once reported him to the police.
From The Guardian ● Feb. 22, 2020
He must now go behind the crematorium, to the edge of the Ganges—a “dark slurry of putrefying matter”—and throw his mother’s remains in.
From The New Yorker ● Mar. 14, 2016
But the pig’s head, along with enough food to fill 50 trash bags, had been putrefying ever since the storm hit three weeks earlier.
From New York Times ● Aug. 4, 2015
My first impulse is to cover my nose to block out the stench of soiled linen, putrefying flesh, and vomit, all ripening in the heat of the warehouse.
From "Mockingjay" by Suzanne Collins
Vocabulary lists containing putrefy
The Nose Knows: Olfactory Vocabulary
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An American Plague
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The Red Pony
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