to write or prepare a letter, email, message, or piece of writing
Mia carefully composed a polite email to the hiring manager before clicking send.
It took him an hour to compose a heartfelt apology letter to his best friend.
✦ Extended from the artistic sense to general writing in the 17th century.
to create a piece of music, poem, or other artistic work by putting parts together
Beethoven composed his Ninth Symphony after losing his hearing.
Late at night, a young woman sat at her piano, composing a gentle lullaby for her newborn.
✦ From Latin componere ‘put together’.
to make up or constitute the parts of something
The committee is composed of five residents and two city officials.
Water is composed of hydrogen and oxygen atoms.
✦ From Latin componere, meaning ‘put together’, retaining the idea of building blocks.
to make yourself calm and in control, especially after being upset or excited
She took a deep breath to compose herself before stepping on stage.
After hearing the bad news, he struggled to compose himself.
✦ Sense of personal calm arose in the late 18th century from the idea of arranging one’s feelings.
to decay or rot naturally, especially as a result of bacterial or fungal action on organic matter.
Dead leaves decompose quickly on the forest floor.
The fish started to decompose after being left in the sun.
✦ Mid 18th century: from French décomposer, from dé- ‘down’ (from Latin de-) + composer ‘to compose’ (from Latin componere ‘put together’).
to separate or break down something into its basic parts or elements.
Chemists decompose water into hydrogen and oxygen.
The teacher asked us to decompose the number 12 into prime factors.
to break down naturally into simpler chemical substances, as dead plants or animals do through the action of bacteria and fungi
Dead leaves decomposes on the forest floor, turning into rich soil.
The fish in the pond decomposes after dying, feeding the water plants.
✦ From French décomposer, from Late Latin decompositus past participle of decomponere (“to take apart”), de- + componere.
to separate or break something down into its basic parts or elements
The scientist decomposes the chemical compound to study its atoms.
She decomposes the complex problem into simple steps.
