Corrupt

//kəˈɹʌpt// adj, verb

adj, verb ·Very common ·Middle school level

Definitions

Verb
  1. 1
    To make corrupt; to change from good to bad; to draw away from the right path; to deprave; to pervert. transitive

    "Don't you dare corrupt my son with those disgusting pictures!"

  2. 2
    alter from the original wordnet
  3. 3
    To become putrid, tainted, or otherwise impure; to putrefy; to rot. archaic, intransitive

    "he entrails, which are the parts aptest to corrupt"

  4. 4
    place under suspicion or cast doubt upon wordnet
  5. 5
    To introduce errors; to place into an invalid state. transitive

    "Unplugging a flash drive without dismounting it first can corrupt the data stored on the drive."

Show 4 more definitions
  1. 6
    make illegal payments to in exchange for favors or influence wordnet
  2. 7
    To debase or make impure by alterations or additions; to falsify.

    "to corrupt language, or a holy text"

  3. 8
    corrupt morally or by intemperance or sensuality wordnet
  4. 9
    To waste, spoil, or consume; to make worthless.

    "Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt."

Adjective
  1. 1
    Willing to act dishonestly for personal gain; accepting bribes.
  2. 2
    In a depraved state; debased; perverted; morally degenerate; weak in morals.

    "The government here is corrupt, so we'll emigrate to escape them."

  3. 3
    Abounding in errors; not genuine or correct; in an invalid state.

    "The text of the manuscript is corrupt."

  4. 4
    In a putrid state; spoiled; tainted; vitiated; unsound.

    "with such corrupt and pestilent bread to feed them."

Adjective
  1. 1
    lacking in integrity wordnet
  2. 2
    touched by rot or decay wordnet
  3. 3
    containing errors or alterations wordnet
  4. 4
    not straight; dishonest or immoral or evasive wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms
corruptedvitiatebribecorruptiblecrookeddebauch

Example

More examples

"The party in power is corrupt, but the opposition is little better."

Etymology

From Middle English corrupten, derived from Latin corruptus, past participle of corrumpō (“to destroy, ruin, injure, spoil, corrupt, bribe”), from com- (“together”) + rumpō (“to break in pieces”).

Related phrases

corrupt practice

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.