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corrupt
[ kuh-ruhpt ]
adjective
- guilty of dishonest practices, as bribery; lacking integrity; crooked:
a corrupt judge.
Synonyms: trustworthy, false
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)
- to become corrupt.
corrupt
/ kəˈrʌpt /
adjective
- lacking in integrity; open to or involving bribery or other dishonest practices
corrupt practices in an election
a corrupt official
- 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)
Derived Forms
- corˈruptness, noun
- corˈruptive, adjective
- corˈrupter, noun
- corˈruptly, adverb
- corˈruptively, adverb
Other Words From
- cor·rupted·ly adverb
- cor·rupted·ness noun
- cor·rupter cor·ruptor noun
- cor·ruptive adjective
- cor·ruptive·ly adverb
- cor·ruptly adverb
- cor·ruptness noun
- noncor·rupt adjective
- noncor·ruptly adverb
- noncor·ruptness noun
- noncor·rupter noun
- noncor·ruptive adjective
- over·cor·rupt verb adjective
- over·cor·ruptly adverb
- precor·rupt verb (used with object)
- precor·ruptly adverb
- precor·ruptness noun
- precor·ruptive adjective
- uncor·rupt adjective
- uncor·ruptly adverb
- uncor·ruptness noun
- uncor·rupted adjective
- uncor·rupted·ly adverb
- uncor·rupted·ness noun
- uncor·rupting adjective
- uncor·ruptive adjective
Word History and Origins
Word History and Origins
Origin of corrupt1
Synonym Study
Example Sentences
Bacteriophages were developed over much of the 20th century by dedicated scientists who battled not just microbes but also doubtful colleagues and corrupt politics.
Richard Baker KC, representing some of the babies’ families asked the consultant: “You had a sense that there might be some deals going on behind the scenes, some element perhaps of corrupt behaviour?”
“If you work for the FDA and are part of this corrupt system, I have two messages for you,” he continued: “1. Preserve your records, and 2. Pack your bags.”
On the other end is “El Mal,” a driving condemnation of the terrible people — murderers, corrupt politicians — contributing to the onetime drug lord’s charity aiming to locate the remains of cartel victims.
"What you had in the downstream sector was an inefficient, corrupt monopoly," she says.
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Related Words
More About Corrupt
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.
Where does corrupt come from?
The first records of the word corrupt come from the 1200s. It ultimately derives from the Latin verb corrumpere, meaning “to ruin” (or literally “to break to pieces”), from the verb rumpere, “to break.”
People described as corrupt are usually those who are supposed to be upholding the rules but instead break the rules to benefit themselves—typically to get richer or more powerful. The word is most commonly used to describe crooked officials in the government or other organizations and their shady dealings (as opposed to ordinary citizens). Perhaps the most common and well-known example of corruption is bribery, and in fact corruption can be used as a synonym of bribery.
When people say a person has been corrupted, it usually involves a debasing of their values or morality (at least in the judgment of the person using the word). Language and words are corrupted all the time as words evolve and get introduced into other languages. This sense of the word is less negative than others. In the context of software, data or files can get corrupted due to various errors, often resulting in files being lost or unable to be opened.
Did you know ... ?
What are some other forms related to corrupt?
- corruption (noun)
- corruptible (adjective)
- corruptive (adjective)
- corrupter (noun)
- corruptor (noun)
- corruptly (adverb)
What are some synonyms for corrupt?
What are some words that share a root or word element with corrupt?
What are some words that often get used in discussing corrupt?
How is corrupt used in real life?
Corrupt is most commonly used to describe crooked institutions and officials, especially in government and politics.
One thing this week has really shown me is that even corrupt politicians you don’t like act quick and have sudden “changes of heart” under the right pressure. Voting is good but you also don’t need to wait for that, don’t underestimate the power of showing up for activist actions
— Stephanie Hurlburt (@sehurlburt) June 9, 2020
I blame my dad for corrupting my mind with free jazz and fusion…when I went to jazz school, I thought my teachers would respect sun ra and Albert Ayler.
— Cheetos 🎷👽✌🏼 Prophet (@kingkroba) March 8, 2019
Yeah, it's there. But it crashes before it can complete the autosave, so the file is corrupt and won't open… :(
It's fine, I'm just doing it over.— Jazzy (@JazzsVids) June 19, 2020
Try using corrupt!
Is corrupt used correctly in the following sentence?
Parents often worry that their kids will stumble upon programming that corrupts their values.
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