cor·rupt
(kə-rŭpt′)adj.1. Marked by immorality and perversion; depraved.
2. Venal or dishonest: a corrupt mayor.
3. Containing errors or alterations, especially ones that prevent proper understanding or use: a corrupt translation; a corrupt computer file.
4. Archaic Tainted; putrid.
v. cor·rupt·ed, cor·rupt·ing, cor·rupts
v.tr.1. To ruin morally; pervert: "The argument that modern life consists of a menu of horrors by which we are corrupted ... is a founding idea of the critique of modernity" (Susan Sontag).
2. To destroy or subvert the honesty or integrity of, as by offering bribes: "Our politics has been corrupted by money and suffused with meanness" (Peter Edelman).
3. a. To cause to become rotten; spoil: "There was a strange smell in the room, high and slightly sweet, like perfume corrupted in the bottle" (Bella Bathurst).
b. Archaic To render impure; contaminate.
4. a. To alter from original or proper form: "Strangers named them the Chippewa, which was corrupted to Ojibway" (Paul Theroux).
b. Computers To damage (data) in a file or on a disk.
v.intr. To become corrupt.
[Middle English, from Latin
corruptus, past participle of
corrumpere,
to destroy :
com-,
intensive pref.; see
com- +
rumpere,
to break; see
reup- in
Indo-European roots.]
cor·rupt′er, cor·rup′tor n.
cor·rup′tive adj.
cor·rupt′ly adv.
cor·rupt′ness n.
Synonyms: corrupt, debase, debauch, deprave, pervert, vitiate
These verbs mean to ruin utterly in character or quality: was corrupted by power; debased himself by taking the bribe; a youth debauched by drugs; led a life depraved by sensual indulgence; perverted her talent by her pursuit of commercial success; a laudable goal vitiated by dishonest means.
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.