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corruption

[kuh-ruhp-shuhn]
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SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR corruption ON THESAURUS.COM

noun

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RELATED WORDS

fraud, nepotism, crime, exploitation, malfeasance, extortion, graft, bribery, atrocity, evil, degradation, pollution, demoralization, misrepresentation, shuffle, shadiness, venality, racket, payola, squeeze

Origin of corruption

1300–50; Middle English corrupcio(u)n (< Anglo-French) < Latin corruptiōn-, stem of corruptiō. See corrupt, -ion
Related formsan·ti·cor·rup·tion, noun, adjectiveo·ver·cor·rup·tion, nounpre·cor·rup·tion, noun

Synonyms for corruption

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR corruption ON THESAURUS.COM
2. dissolution, immorality. 8. rot, putrefaction, putrescence, foulness, pollution, contamination.

Antonyms for corruption

1–3. purity. 3, 4. honesty.
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for corruption

Contemporary Examples of corruption

Historical Examples of corruption

  • The name is a Spanish corruption ofAshiwi, their own name for themselves.

    The Trail Book

    Mary Austin

  • And am I to be hurried along by this stream of corruption to infamy and oblivion!

  • This is a corruption of the old Norman-French word oyez, “hear ye.”

    English Villages

    P. H. Ditchfield

  • His children are shadows—their life a dance, a sickness, a corruption.

    A Dish Of Orts

    George MacDonald

  • By what I have ingenuously told you, you may see who began this corruption.

    Clarissa, Volume 3 (of 9)

    Samuel Richardson

British Dictionary definitions for corruption

corruption

noun

the act of corrupting or state of being corrupt
moral perversion; depravity
dishonesty, esp bribery
putrefaction or decay
alteration, as of a manuscript
an altered form of a word
Derived Formscorruptionist, noun
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Word Origin and History for corruption
n.

mid-14c., of material things, especially dead bodies, also of the soul, morals, etc., from Latin corruptionem (nominative corruptio), noun of action from past participle stem of corrumpere (see corrupt). Of public offices from early 15c.; of language from late 15c.

Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper