corrupt
Americanadjective
-
guilty of dishonest practices, as bribery; lacking integrity; crooked.
a corrupt judge.
- Synonyms:
- trustworthy, false
-
debased in character; depraved; perverted; wicked; evil.
a corrupt society.
-
(of a text) made inferior by errors or alterations.
Scholars compared the corrupt Alexandrian manuscript with a more reliable Greek translation.
-
infected; tainted.
-
Archaic. decayed; putrid.
- Synonyms:
- spoiled, decomposed, rotten, putrescent
-
Computers. relating to or designating computer code or stored data that contains errors.
If the corrupt file won’t open, restore a previous save.
verb (used with object)
-
to destroy the integrity of; cause to be dishonest, disloyal, etc., especially by bribery.
- Synonyms:
- demoralize, suborn, buy, bribe
-
to lower morally; pervert.
to corrupt youth.
-
to alter (a language, text, etc.) for the worse; debase.
-
to mar; spoil.
-
to infect; taint.
- Synonyms:
- defile, pollute, contaminate
-
Archaic. to make putrid or putrescent.
- Synonyms:
- putrefy
-
Computers. to introduce errors in (computer code or stored data) when saving, transmitting, or retrieving it.
I downloaded some free modifications that corrupted the core program, so I can’t open it until I uninstall and reinstall the original version.
-
English Law. (in historical use) to subject (an attainted person) to corruption of blood.
verb (used without object)
adjective
-
lacking in integrity; open to or involving bribery or other dishonest practices
a corrupt official
corrupt practices in an election
-
morally depraved
-
putrid or rotten
-
contaminated; unclean
-
(of a text or manuscript) made meaningless or different in meaning from the original by scribal errors or alterations
-
(of computer programs or data) containing errors
verb
-
to become or cause to become dishonest or disloyal
-
to debase or become debased morally; deprave
-
(tr) to infect or contaminate; taint
-
(tr) to cause to become rotten
-
(tr) to alter (a text, manuscript, etc) from the original
-
(tr) computing to introduce errors into (data or a program)
Usage
What does corrupt mean? Corrupt is commonly used as an adjective to describe members of organizations or institutions who engage in illegal or otherwise dishonest practices to benefit themselves. It can also be used in this way to describe their actions or institutions that have a lot of this activity.Corrupt can also be used as verb meaning to destroy the integrity of someone or something or cause someone to be dishonest.The state of being corrupt is corruption. Both terms are most often used in the context of such rulebreaking by people who are powerful or who are responsible for the well-being of others, such as politicians, government officials, and police officers.More generally, corrupt can be used as an adjective that means depraved, debased, or having been made worse in some way. It can also be used as a verb meaning to make someone or something depraved, debased, or worse in some way.More specifically, corrupt can mean to alter a word or text in a way that deviates from its original or intended form.Example: This isn’t just one or two corrupt officials. The whole organization is corrupt—bribes and kickbacks are their normal way of doing business.
Related Words
Corrupt, dishonest, venal apply to a person, especially in public office, who acts on mercenary motives, without regard to honor, right, or justice. A corrupt politician is one originally honest who has succumbed to temptation and begun questionable practices. A dishonest politician is one lacking native integrity. A venal politician is one so totally debased as to sell patronage.
Other Word Forms
- corruptedly adverb
- corruptedness noun
- corrupter noun
- corruptive adjective
- corruptively adverb
- corruptly adverb
- corruptness noun
- corruptor noun
- noncorrupt adjective
- noncorrupter noun
- noncorruptive adjective
- noncorruptly adverb
- noncorruptness noun
- overcorrupt verb
- overcorruptly adverb
- precorrupt verb (used with object)
- precorruptive adjective
- precorruptly adverb
- precorruptness noun
- uncorrupt adjective
- uncorrupted adjective
- uncorruptedly adverb
- uncorruptedness noun
- uncorrupting adjective
- uncorruptive adjective
- uncorruptly adverb
- uncorruptness noun
Etymology
Origin of corrupt
First recorded in 1300–50; Middle English verb from Latin corruptus “rotten, decayed, corrupted” (past participle of corrumpere ), equivalent to cor- intensive prefix + rup- (variant stem of rumpere “to break”) + -tus past participle suffix; cor-
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
"So it's not surprising there are people who will make mistakes or who are corrupt," says Professor Kerry Brown of King's College London.
From BBC
It’s also linked to the modern evolution of Friday the 13th as an unlucky day, based in part on Thomas Lawson’s 1907 best-seller about a corrupt stockbroker who crashes the market.
From Barron's
“Does the Department of War want something like that in their supply chain, so that it could hallucinate, it could corrupt models that are used by defense contractors who are building weapons systems of airplanes?”
Instead, it is wholly contingent and circumstantial, defined by what serves his own self-interest and corrupt needs and wants at any given moment.
From Salon
Many of the country’s 93 million people were deeply dissatisfied with the sclerotic and often corrupt rule that characterized the 36-plus-year reign of his father.
From Los Angeles Times
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
