decomposition.

1. The breaking of something into constituent parts or simpler components.

2. The breakdown of a substance into simpler substances.

3. The decay or breakdown of organic matter.

Use it for

Words that belong together

• decomposition of a system
• decomposition into components

On the page

Decomposition of the system exposed a dependency between two stages.

The model used decomposition into components to simplify the calculation.

Usage notes

Primary category: academic / formal. Forms: Usually uncountable. Legacy lexical fields mirror sense 1 only. Use numbered sense fields for all meanings. Established modern English lexical item. No separate regional spelling or grammatical inflection entry. Writing functions: explicit explanation, scope and categorization, proof and interpretation, philosophical foundations. Disciplines: academic writing, formal reasoning, philosophy. Commonness: moderately common.