rotten
Americanadjective
-
decomposing or decaying; putrid; tainted, foul, or bad-smelling.
- Antonyms:
- sound
-
corrupt or morally offensive.
- Synonyms:
- immoral
- Antonyms:
- moral
-
wretchedly bad, unpleasant, or unsatisfactory; miserable.
a rotten piece of work; a rotten day at the office.
-
contemptible; despicable.
a rotten little liar; a rotten trick.
- Synonyms:
- treacherous, unwholesome, disgusting
-
(of soil, rocks, etc.) soft, yielding, or friable as the result of decomposition.
-
Australian Slang. drunk.
adjective
-
affected with rot; decomposing, decaying, or putrid
-
breaking up, esp through age or hard use; disintegrating
rotten ironwork
-
morally despicable or corrupt
-
untrustworthy, disloyal, or treacherous
-
informal unpleasant, unfortunate, or nasty
rotten luck
rotten weather
-
informal unsatisfactory or poor
rotten workmanship
-
informal miserably unwell
-
informal distressed, uncomfortable, and embarrassed
I felt rotten when I told him to go
-
(of rocks, soils, etc) soft and crumbling, esp as a result of weathering
-
slang intoxicated; drunk
adverb
"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012Other Word Forms
- half-rotten adjective
- rottenly adverb
- rottenness noun
- unrotten adjective
Etymology
Origin of rotten
1175–1225; Middle English roten < Old Norse rotinn, past participle of an unrecorded verb meaning “to rot”
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.
"I always thought it was a rotten idea."
From BBC
“My children are all decent people. I don’t have one rotten one, and I would like to think that they got some of that from me.”
From MarketWatch
The Food Standards Agency is also looking into claims that the firm also mixed rotten pork with fresh meat.
From BBC
At the legendary Battle of Cable Street in London in 1936, there are various accounts of eggs, flour and rotten food being chucked at fascists and the police.
From Salon
Tokitae was given meager rations, fed rotten fish and forced to do high-energy jumps and tricks despite a jaw injury from fast swims, the report stated.
From Seattle 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.
