corrupt

American  

[kuh-ruhpt] / kəˈrʌpt /

adjective

1. guilty of dishonest practices, as bribery; lacking integrity; crooked.

   a corrupt judge.

   Synonyms:

   untrustworthy, false

2. debased in character; depraved; perverted; wicked; evil.

   a corrupt society.

3. (of a text) made inferior by errors or alterations.

   Scholars compared the corrupt Alexandrian manuscript with a more reliable Greek translation.

4. infected; tainted.

5. Archaic. decayed; putrid.

   Synonyms:

   spoiled, decomposed, rotten, putrescent

6. Computers. relating to or designating computer code or stored data that contains errors.

   If the corrupt file won’t open, restore a previous save.

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verb (used with object)

• corrupts,
  present (3rd person singular)
• corrupted,
  past participle,  past
• corrupting
  present participle

1. to destroy the integrity of; cause to be dishonest, disloyal, etc., especially by bribery.

   Synonyms:

   demoralize, suborn, buy, bribe

2. to lower morally; pervert.

   to corrupt youth.

   Synonyms:

   vitiate, debase

3. to alter (a language, text, etc.) for the worse; debase.

4. to mar; spoil.

5. to infect; taint.

   Synonyms:

   defile, pollute, contaminate

6. Archaic. to make putrid or putrescent.

   Synonyms:

   putrefy

7. 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.

8. English Law. (in historical use) to subject (an attainted person) to corruption of blood.

verb (used without object)

• corrupts,
  present (3rd person singular)
• corrupted,
  past participle,  past
• corrupting
  present participle

1. to become corrupt.

corrupt British  

/ kəˈrʌpt /

adjective

1. lacking in integrity; open to or involving bribery or other dishonest practices

   a corrupt official

   corrupt practices in an election

2. morally depraved

3. putrid or rotten

4. contaminated; unclean

5. (of a text or manuscript) made meaningless or different in meaning from the original by scribal errors or alterations

6. (of computer programs or data) containing errors

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verb

1. to become or cause to become dishonest or disloyal

2. to debase or become debased morally; deprave

3. (tr) to infect or contaminate; taint

4. (tr) to cause to become rotten

5. (tr) to alter (a text, manuscript, etc) from the original

6. (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.

Synonym Usage

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

Derived Forms

• corruptedness
  noun
• corrupter
  noun
• corruptness
  noun
• corruptor
  noun
• noncorrupter
  noun
• noncorruptness
  noun
• precorruptness
  noun
• uncorruptedness
  noun
• uncorruptness
  noun
• overcorrupt
  verb
• precorrupt
  verb (used with object)
• corruptive
  adjective
• noncorrupt
  adjective
• noncorruptive
  adjective
• precorruptive
  adjective
• uncorrupt
  adjective
• uncorrupted
  adjective
• uncorrupting
  adjective
• uncorruptive
  adjective
• corruptedly
  adverb
• corruptively
  adverb
• corruptly
  adverb
• noncorruptly
  adverb
• overcorruptly
  adverb
• precorruptly
  adverb
• uncorruptedly
  adverb
• uncorruptly
  adverb

Inflected Forms

Participles

• corrupting
  present
• corrupted
  past

Conjugated Forms

Present

• corrupt
  simple
• corrupts
  simple
• have corrupted
  perfect
• has corrupted
  perfect
• am corrupting
  progressive
• are corrupting
  progressive
• is corrupting
  progressive
• have been corrupting
  perfect progressive
• has been corrupting
  perfect progressive

Past

• corrupted
  simple
• had corrupted
  perfect
• was corrupting
  progressive
• were corrupting
  progressive
• had been corrupting
  perfect progressive

Future

• will corrupt
  simple
• will have corrupted
  perfect
• will be corrupting
  progressive
• will have been corrupting
  perfect progressive

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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; see cor-

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Explanation

If someone or something is corrupt, they’re broken morally or in some other way. Corrupt people perform immoral or illegal acts for personal gain, without apology. Corrupt politicians take bribes and deny it. When you corrupt someone, you convince them to do something wrong or even illegal. If you talk your little brother into stealing cookies from the cookie jar, you're corrupting him. Something corrupt is rotten, spoiled, or out of commission, like a file that makes your computer crash. A corrupt person — a criminal, a crook, or a cookie thief — brings society down with immoral and dishonest behavior. Corrupt goes back to the Latin roots cor-, "altogether," and rumpere, "break."

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

corrupt corrupts corrupted corrupting

The purpose of oversight generally is to expose corrupt behavior so that voters can then respond to it.

From Slate ● Nov. 9, 2026

They are a generation seen as easy to corrupt, but also expendable, by the kingpins who typically control them from prison or overseas.

From BBC ● Nov. 9, 2026

I mean honestly, if it’s so bad and so corrupt.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 3, 2026

Many Venezuelans see Betancourt as a “totemic, emblematic, corrupt figure,” said Brian Naranjo, a former senior U.S. diplomat in Venezuela, in an interview.

From Salon ● Oct. 23, 2026

In the few years he had remaining it would corrupt his other senses until at last only his bird-screech voice would remain, and then that would expire, too.

From "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?" by Philip K. Dick

The old adage is true: Power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.

From Salon ● Feb. 6, 2026

His relationship with his Jewish neighbors, the Brodskys, grows closer as Nazi power corrupts France.

From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 4, 2026

“Money spent very quickly on the military corrupts very quickly,” said Dennis Wilder, a senior fellow at Georgetown University and former U.S. intelligence officer.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 27, 2026

What we know about power is that it always corrupts.

From Seattle Times ● Nov. 3, 2023

The very desire of it corrupts the heart.

From "The Fellowship of the Ring" by J.R.R. Tolkien

While the word has been co-opted and corrupted by vision-board romantics and TikTok gurus, it’s still the key to making what we want happen.

From Salon ● Oct. 12, 2026

Dive into this short story about humans’ first contact with an alien who’s been corrupted by some very modern vices.

From Slate ● Sep. 23, 2026

Now imagine that kind of corrupted, perverted system of justice writ large.

From Los Angeles Times ● May 24, 2026

The papers that have used the corrupted data set remain in the literature today.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 29, 2026

And just to complicate matters perfecdy, I was starting to feel responsible for their safety and happiness and got panicked at the idea of them being captured or corrupted by the outside world.

From "How I Live Now" by Meg Rosoff

“First Cow” is about the sweetness of friendship and French pastries in the wilds of Oregon during westward expansion; “The Weight” is about the corrupting forces of capitalism.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 18, 2026

Reasonable people will go in circles forever about whether specific cases are proof of the industry’s maturity or proof of its corrupting effect.

From Slate ● Apr. 28, 2026

By crowding out normal blood production and corrupting the immune system from within, some forms progress slowly, others aggressively.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 19, 2026

Far from corrupting high culture, the middlebrow was once the bulwark that protected it.

From Salon ● Apr. 19, 2026

Steve Eisman was odd in his conviction that the leveraging of middle-class America was a corrupt and corrupting event, and that the subprime mortgage market in particular was an engine of exploitation and, ultimately, destruction.

From "The Big Short" by Michael Lewis

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Related Words

• bribe
• contaminate
• debase
• degrade
• demean
• demoralize
• harm
• impair
• misuse
• ruin
• subvert
• taint
• undermine
• violate
• warp

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