corrupt
Americanadjective
-
guilty of dishonest practices, as bribery; lacking integrity; crooked.
a corrupt judge.
- Synonyms:
- untrustworthy, 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)
-
corrupts,
present (3rd person singular)
-
corrupted,
past participle, past
-
corrupting
present participle
-
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)
-
corrupts,
present (3rd person singular)
-
corrupted,
past participle, past
-
corrupting
present participle
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.
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
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corruptednessnoun
-
corrupternoun
-
corruptnessnoun
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corruptornoun
-
noncorrupternoun
-
noncorruptnessnoun
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precorruptnessnoun
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uncorruptednessnoun
-
uncorruptnessnoun
-
overcorruptverb
-
precorruptverb (used with object)
-
corruptiveadjective
-
noncorruptadjective
-
noncorruptiveadjective
-
precorruptiveadjective
-
uncorruptadjective
-
uncorruptedadjective
-
uncorruptingadjective
-
uncorruptiveadjective
-
corruptedlyadverb
-
corruptivelyadverb
-
corruptlyadverb
-
noncorruptlyadverb
-
overcorruptlyadverb
-
precorruptlyadverb
-
uncorruptedlyadverb
-
uncorruptlyadverb
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
corruptsimple
-
corruptssimple
-
have corruptedperfect
-
has corruptedperfect
-
am corruptingprogressive
-
are corruptingprogressive
-
is corruptingprogressive
-
have been corruptingperfect progressive
-
has been corruptingperfect progressive
Past
-
corruptedsimple
-
had corruptedperfect
-
was corruptingprogressive
-
were corruptingprogressive
-
had been corruptingperfect progressive
Future
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-
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."
Vocabulary lists containing corrupt
Make a Break for It: Rupt
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Oh, No! Synonyms for "Bad"
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Purple Hibiscus
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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.
See Examples For:
It’s every bit as corrupt as it sounds!
From Slate ● Aug. 3, 2026
Some see a dark irony: Five years ago, an exasperated President Andrés Manuel López Obrador bemoaned that a corrupt customs regime had allowed organized crime to take over land and maritime ports of entry.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 3, 2026
But since last September, as witnesses gave evidence to the Madlanga Commission, allegations that Matlala had a close and corrupt relationship with senior police officers emerged in the public domain.
From BBC ● Jul. 14, 2026
Over the past week Greenwater became a punchline for late-night monologues, and Antinone scrubbed his phone number from the internet after being inundated with angry voicemails accusing him of swimming in corrupt public cash.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 28, 2026
The reason Dad was having a tough time getting steady work—as he kept trying to tell us—was that the electricians’ union in Phoenix was corrupt.
From "The Glass Castle" by Jeannette Walls
Self-deception corrupts that process from within, and the cost grows with every generation.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 2, 2026
Downs: I think power corrupts; and absolute power corrupts absolutely.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 8, 2024
What we know about power is that it always corrupts.
From Seattle Times ● Nov. 3, 2023
We wanted to explore the idea, and particularly with Season 2, that power corrupts.
From Salon ● Jul. 29, 2023
Secrecy is a form of power, and power corrupts.
From "The Woman All Spies Fear" by Amy Butler Greenfield
The papers that have used the corrupted data set remain in the literature today.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 29, 2026
He’s corrupted from the inside by a system that has no regard for his humanity.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 18, 2026
"According to me and the majority of nations involved in this race, Canada corrupted everything that is meant to be fair and beautiful about our sport," she added.
From Barron's ● Jan. 24, 2026
We would only do this if our goal was corrupted.
From Slate ● Jan. 1, 2026
“When we unite the kingdoms under one rule, we’ll make sure that never happens. We’ll make sure no one is ever again corrupted by the power of the Book.”
From "The Reader" by Traci Chee
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
To Old Hickory, the bank was unconstitutional, corrupt and, with respect to American liberty and character, corrupting.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 21, 2026
But the judge said Bembridge had a public role and had failed to carry out his duties on behalf of the King for a corrupting motive.
From BBC ● Feb. 20, 2026
Instead, Jerry takes every shortcut he can without considering the ethical fine print, aligning himself with Carl and Gaear and corrupting his soul in the process.
From Salon ● Feb. 7, 2026
“He says that you are corrupting the party with your ideas,” I was told.
From "Black Boy" by Richard Wright
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.
