Corrupt

• POS: Adjective, Verb (usu participle), Verb (transitive)
• HYPHEN: cor=rupt

CIDE DICTIONARY

Corrupt, a. [L. corruptus, p. p. of corrumpere to corrupt; cor- + rumpere to break. See Rupture.].

•  Changed from a sound to a putrid state; spoiled; tainted; vitiated; unsound.  [1913 Webster]

  "Who with such corrupt and pestilent bread would feed them."  [1913 Webster]
•  Changed from a state of uprightness, correctness, truth, etc., to a worse state; vitiated; depraved; debased; perverted; as, corrupt language; corrupt judges.  [1913 Webster]

  "At what ease
  Might corrupt minds procure knaves as corrupt
  To swear against you."  [1913 Webster]
•  Abounding in errors; not genuine or correct; as, the text of the manuscript is corrupt.  [1913 Webster]

Corrupt, v. t. 

•  To change from a sound to a putrid or putrescent state; to make putrid; to putrefy.  [1913 Webster]
•  To change from good to bad; to vitiate; to deprave; to pervert; to debase; to defile.  [1913 Webster]

  "Evil communications corrupt good manners."  [1913 Webster]
•  To draw aside from the path of rectitude and duty; as, to corrupt a judge by a bribe.  [1913 Webster]

  "Heaven is above all yet; there sits a Judge
  That no king can corrupt."  [1913 Webster]
•  To debase or render impure by alterations or innovations; to falsify; as, to corrupt language; to corrupt the sacred text.  [1913 Webster]

  "He that makes an ill use of it [language], though he does not corrupt the fountains of knowledge, . . . yet he stops the pines."  [1913 Webster]
•  To waste, spoil, or consume; to make worthless.  [1913 Webster]

  "Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt."  [1913 Webster]

Corrupt, v. i. 

•  To become putrid or tainted; to putrefy; to rot.  Bacon.  [1913 Webster]
•  To become vitiated; to lose purity or goodness.  [1913 Webster]

OXFORD DICTIONARY

Corrupt, adj. & v.
--adj.
1 morally depraved; wicked.
2 influenced by or using bribery or fraudulent activity.
3 (of a text, language, etc.) harmed (esp. made suspect or unreliable) by errors or alterations.
4 rotten.
--v.
1 tr. & intr. make or become corrupt or depraved.
2 tr. affect or harm by errors or alterations.
3 tr. infect, taint.

Idiom

corrupt practices fraudulent activity, esp. at elections.

Derivative

corrupter n. corruptible adj. corruptibility n. corruptive adj. corruptly adv. corruptness n.

Etymology

ME f. OF corrupt or L corruptus past part. of corrumpere corrupt- (as COM-, rumpere break)

THESAURUS

Corrupt

abandoned, abase, aberrant, abroad, abuse, adrift, adulterate, afflict, aggrieve, alienate, all abroad, all off, all wrong, alloy, amiss, amoral, approach, approachable, askew, astray, at fault, awry, bad, baneful, bastardize, befoul, benasty, beside the mark, bewitch, blight, brainwash, break down, break up, bribable, bribe, buy, buy off, buyable, canker, cankered, carious, cheapen, coarsen, condemn, confound, conscienceless, contaminate, contaminated, corrupted, corruptible, counterindoctrinate, criminal, crooked, crucify, crumble, crumble into dust, curse, cut, damage, dark, debase, debased, debauch, debauched, decadent, decay, decayed, deceptive, decompose, decomposed, defective, defile, deflower, degenerate, degrade, degraded, deleterious, delusive, demoralize, denaturalize, denature, deprave, depraved, desecrate, despoil, destroy, detrimental, devalue, deviant, deviational, deviative, devious, dial, dilute, disadvantage, dishonest, dishonorable, disintegrate, disserve, dissolute, distort, distorted, distress, do a mischief, do evil, do ill, do wrong, do wrong by, doctor, doctor up, doom, doubtful, dubious, envenom, errant, erring, erroneous, evasive, evil, face, fall into decay, fall to pieces, fallacious, false, faultful, faulty, features, felonious, fester, festering, fishy, fix, fixable, flagitious, flawed, fortify, foul, fraudulent, gangrene, gangrened, gangrenous, get at, get into trouble, get to, go bad, go to pieces, gone bad, grease, grease the palm, harass, harm, heretical, heterodox, hex, hurt, ill-got, ill-gotten, illogical, illusory, immoral, impair, indirect, indoctrinate, infamous, infect, injure, insidious, jinx, kisser, lace, low, maltreat, map, menace, mess, mess up, mildew, misadvise, miscreant, misdirect, miseducate, misguide, misinform, misinstruct, mislead, misteach, mistreat, misuse, mold, molder, molest, morally polluted, mortified, mortify, mug, mystify, nasty, necrose, necrosed, necrotic, nefarious, not kosher, not right, not true, noxious, obfuscate, oblique, obscure, off, off the track, on the pad, on the take, out, outrage, pan, pay off, peccant, pernicious, persecute, perverse, pervert, perverted, phiz, play havoc with, play hob with, poison, pollute, polluted, prejudice, profligate, prostitute, purchasable, purchase, puss, putrefied, putrefy, putresce, putrescent, putrid, questionable, rankle, ravage, ravish, reach, reindoctrinate, reprobate, rot, rotten, rotting, ruin, savage, scathe, self-contradictory, shady, shameless, shifty, sinister, slippery, smirch, soil, sphacelate, sphacelated, spike, spoil, spoiled, stain, steeped in iniquity, straying, suborn, subvert, subverted, sully, suppurate, suppurating, suppurative, suspicious, taint, tainted, take care of, tamper with, tarnish, threaten, tickle the palm, torment, torture, tricky, turn, twist, ulcerate, ulcerated, unconscienced, unconscientious, unconscionable, underhand, underhanded, unethical, unfactual, unorthodox, unprincipled, unproved, unsavory, unscrupulous, unstraightforward, untrue, untrustworthy, venal, vice-corrupted, vicious, villainous, violate, visage, vitiate, vitiated, vulgarize, warp, warped, water, water down, wicked, wide, win away, without remorse, without shame, wound, wreak havoc on, wreck, wrong

ROGET THESAURUS

Corrupt

Uncleanness

VB be unclean, become unclean, rot, putrefy, ferment, fester, rankle, reek, stink, mold, molder, go bad, render unclean, dirt, dirty, daub, blot, blur, smudge, smutch, soil, smoke, tarnish, slaver, spot, smear, smirch, begrease, dabble, drabble, draggle, daggle, spatter, slubber, besmear, bemire, beslime, begrime, befoul, splash, stain, distain, maculate, sully, pollute, defile, debase, contaminate, taint, leaven, corrupt, cover with dust, drabble in the mud, roil, wallow in the mire, slobber, slabber.

N uncleanness, impurity, immundity, immundicity, impurity, defilement, contamination, defoedation, soilure, soiliness, abomination, leaven, taint, tainture, fetor, decay, putrescence, putrefaction, corruption, mold, must, mildew, dry rot, mucor, rubigo, slovenry, slovenliness, squalor, dowdy, drab, slut, malkin, slattern, sloven, slammerkin, slammock, slummock, scrub, draggle-tail, mudlark, dust-man, sweep, beast, dirt, filth, soil, slop, dust, cobweb, flue, smoke, soot, smudge, smut, grit, grime, raff, sossle, sozzle, sordes, dregs, grounds, lees, argol, sediment, settlement heeltap, dross, drossiness, mother, precipitate, scoriae, ashes, cinders, recrement, slag, scum, froth, hogwash, ditchwater, dishwater, bilgewater, rinsings, cheeseparings, sweepings, offscourings, outscourings, off scum, caput mortuum, residuum, sprue, fecula, clinker, draff, scurf, scurfiness, exuviae, morphea, fur, furfur, dandruff, tartar, riffraff, vermin, louse, flea, bug, chinch, mud, mire, quagmire, alluvium, silt, sludge, slime, slush, slosh, sposh, spawn, offal, gurry, lientery, garbage, carrion, excreta, slough, peccant humor, pus, matter, suppuration, lienteria, faeces, feces, excrement, ordure, dung, crap, shit, sewage, sewerage, muck, coprolite, guano, manure, compost, dunghill, colluvies, mixen, midden, bog, laystall, sink, privy, jakes, toilet, john, head, cess, cesspool, sump, sough, cloaca, latrines, drain, sewer, common sewer, Cloacina, dust hole, sty, pigsty, lair, den, Augean stable, sink of corruption, slum, rookery, dirty, filthy, grimy, unclean, impure, soiled, not to be handled with kid gloves, dusty, snuffy, smutty, sooty, smoky, thick, turbid, dreggy, slimy, mussy, slovenly, untidy, messy, uncleanly, unkempt, sluttish, dowdy, draggle-tailed, uncombed, unscoured, unswept, unwiped, unwashed, unstrained, unpurified, squalid, lutose, slammocky, slummocky, sozzly, nasty, coarse, foul, offensive, abominable, beastly, reeky, reechy, fetid, decayed, moldy, musty, mildewed, rusty, moth-eaten, mucid, rancid, weak, bad, gone bad, etercoral, lentiginous, touched, fusty, effete, reasty, rotten, corrupt, tainted, high, flyblown, maggoty, putrid, putrefactive, putrescent, putrefied, saprogenic, saprogenous, purulent, carious, peccant, fecal, feculent, stercoraceous, excrementitious, scurfy, scurvy, impetiginous, gory, bloody, rotting, rotten as a pear, rotten as cheese, crapulous, gross, fimetarious, fimicolous, they that touch pitch will be defiled.

Deterioration

VB be worse, be deteriorated, become worse, become deteriorated Adj, have seen better days, deteriorate, degenerate, fall off, wane, ebb, retrograde, decline, droop, go down, go downhill, go from bad to worse, go farther and fare worse, jump out of the frying pan into the fire, run to seed, go to seed, run to waste swale, sweal, lapse, be the worse for, sphacelate: break, break down, spring a leak, crack, start, shrivel, fade, go off, wither, molder, rot, rankle, decay, go bad, go to decay, fall into decay, fall into the sear and yellow leaf, rust, crumble, shake, totter, totter to its fall, perish, die, deteriorate, weaken, put back, set back, taint, infect, contaminate, poison, empoison, envenom, canker, corrupt, exulcerate, pollute, vitiate, inquinate, debase, embase, denaturalize, denature, leaven, deflower, debauch, defile, deprave, degrade, ulcerate, stain, discolor, alloy, adulterate, sophisticate, tamper with, prejudice, pervert, prostitute, demoralize, brutalize, render vicious, embitter, acerbate, exacerbate, aggravate, injure, impair, labefy, damage, harm, hurt, shend, scath, scathe, spoil, mar, despoil, dilapidate, waste, overrun, ravage, pillage, wound, stab, pierce, maim, lame, surbate, cripple, hough, hamstring, hit between wind and water, scotch, mangle, mutilate, disfigure, blemish, deface, warp, blight, rot, corrode, erode, wear away, wear out, gnaw, gnaw at the root of, sap, mine, undermine, shake, sap the foundations of, break up, disorganize, dismantle, dismast, destroy, damnify, do one's worst, knock down, deal a blow to, play havoc with, play sad havoc with, play the mischief with, play the deuce with, play the very devil with, play havoc among, play sad havoc among, play the mischief among, play the deuce among, play the very devil among, decimate.

N deterioration, debasement, wane, ebb, recession, retrogradation, decrease, degeneracy, degeneration, degenerateness, degradation, depravation, depravement, devolution, depravity, demoralization, retrogression, masochism, impairment, inquination, injury, damage, loss, detriment, delaceration, outrage, havoc, inroad, ravage, scath, perversion, prostitution, vitiation, discoloration, oxidation, pollution, defoedation, poisoning, venenation, leaven, contamination, canker, corruption, adulteration, alloy, decline, declension, declination, decadence, decadency, falling off, caducity, decrepitude, decay, dilapidation, ravages of time, wear and tear, corrosion, erosion, moldiness, rottenness, moth and rust, dry rot, blight, marasmus, atrophy, collapse, disorganization, delabrement (destruction), aphid, Aphis, plant louse, puceron, vinefretter, vinegrub, wreck, mere wreck, honeycomb, magni nominis umbra, jade, plug, rackabones, skate, tackey, tacky, have seen better days, deteriorate, degenerate, fall off, wane, ebb, retrograde, decline, droop, go down, go downhill, go from bad to worse, go farther and fare worse, jump out of the frying pan into the fire, run to seed, go to seed, run to waste swale, sweal, lapse, be the worse for, sphacelate: break, break down, spring a leak, crack, start, shrivel, fade, go off, wither, molder, rot, rankle, decay, go bad, go to decay, fall into decay, fall into the sear and yellow leaf, rust, crumble, shake, totter, totter to its fall, perish, die, deteriorate, weaken, put back, set back, taint, infect, contaminate, poison, empoison, envenom, canker, corrupt, exulcerate, pollute, vitiate, inquinate, debase, embase, denaturalize, denature, leaven, deflower, debauch, defile, deprave, degrade, ulcerate, stain, discolor, alloy, adulterate, sophisticate, tamper with, prejudice, pervert, prostitute, demoralize, brutalize, render vicious, embitter, acerbate, exacerbate, aggravate, injure, impair, labefy, damage, harm, hurt, shend, scath, scathe, spoil, mar, despoil, dilapidate, waste, overrun, ravage, pillage, wound, stab, pierce, maim, lame, surbate, cripple, hough, hamstring, hit between wind and water, scotch, mangle, mutilate, disfigure, blemish, deface, warp, blight, rot, corrode, erode, wear away, wear out, gnaw, gnaw at the root of, sap, mine, undermine, shake, sap the foundations of, break up, disorganize, dismantle, dismast, destroy, damnify, do one's worst, knock down, deal a blow to, play havoc with, play sad havoc with, play the mischief with, play the deuce with, play the very devil with, play havoc among, play sad havoc among, play the mischief among, play the deuce among, play the very devil among, decimate, Adj, unimproved &c (improve), deteriorated, altered, altered for the worse, injured, sprung, withering, spoiling, on the wane, on the decline, tabid, degenerate, marescent, worse, the worse for, all the worse for, out of repair, out of tune, imperfect, the worse for wear, battered, weathered, weather-beaten, stale, passe, shaken, dilapidated, frayed, faded, wilted, shabby, secondhand, threadbare, worn, worn to a thread, worn to a shadow, worn to the stump, worn to rags, reduced, reduced to a skeleton, far gone, tacky, decayed, moth-eaten, worm-eaten, mildewed, rusty, moldy, spotted, seedy, time-worn, moss-grown, discolored, effete, wasted, crumbling, moldering, rotten, cankered, blighted, tainted, depraved, decrepid, decrepit, broke, busted, broken, out of commission, hors de combat, out of action, broken down, done, done for, done up, worn out, used up, finished, beyond saving, fit for the dust hole, fit for the wastepaper basket, past work, at a low ebb, in a bad way, on one's last legs, undermined, deciduous, nodding to its fall, tottering, past cure, fatigued, retrograde, deleterious, out of the frying pan into the fire, agrescit medendo, what a falling off was there!.

Illegality

N illegality, lawlessness, illicitness, breach of law, violation of law, infraction of the law, disobedience, unconformity, arbitrariness, antinomy, violence, brute force, despotism, outlawry, mob law, lynch law, club law, Lydford law, martial law, drumhead law, coup d'etat, le droit du plus fort, argumentum baculinum, illegality, informality, unlawfulness, illegitimacy, bar sinister, trover and conversion, smuggling, poaching, simony, outlaw, bad man, v, offend against the law, violate the law, infringe the law, break the law, set the law at defiance, ride roughshod over, drive a coach and six through a statute, ignore the law, make the law a dead letter, take the law into one's own hands, smuggle, run, poach, illegal, unlawful, illegitimate, not allowed, prohibited, illicit, contraband, actionable, unwarranted, unwarrantable, unauthorized, informal, unofficial, injudicial, extrajudicial, lawless, arbitrary, despotic, despotical, corrupt, summary, irresponsible, unanswerable, unaccountable, expired, invalid, unchartered, unconstitutional, null and void, a dead letter, lawless, unregulated, illegally, with a high hand, in violation of law.

Improbity

N improbity, dishonesty, dishonor, deviation from rectitude, disgrace, fraud, lying, bad faith, Punic faith, mala fides, Punica fides, infidelity, faithlessness, Judas kiss, betrayal, breach of promise, breach of trust, breach of faith, prodition, disloyalty, treason, high treason, apostasy, nonobservance, shabbiness, villainy, villany, baseness, abjection, debasement, turpitude, moral turpitude, laxity, trimming, shuffling, perfidy, perfidiousness, treachery, double dealing, unfairness, knavery, roguery, rascality, foul play, jobbing, jobbery, graft, bribery, venality, nepotism, corruption, job, shuffle, fishy transaction, barratry, sharp practice, heads I win tails you lose, mouth honor, dishonest, dishonorable, unconscientious, unscrupulous, fraudulent, knavish, disgraceful, wicked, false-hearted, disingenuous, unfair, one-sided, double, double- hearted, double-tongued, double-faced, timeserving, crooked, tortuous, insidious, Machiavelian, dark, slippery, fishy, perfidious, treacherous, perjured, infamous, arrant, foul, base, vile, ignominious, blackguard, contemptible, unrespectable, abject, mean, shabby, little, paltry, dirty, scurvy, scabby, sneaking, groveling, scrubby, rascally, pettifogging, beneath one, low-minded, low-thoughted, base-minded, undignified, indign, unbecoming, unbeseeming, unbefitting, derogatory, degrading, infra dignitatem, beneath one's dignity, ungentlemanly, ungentlemanlike, unknightly, unchivalric, unmanly, unhandsome, recreant, inglorious, corrupt, venal, debased, mongrel, faithless, of bad faith, false, unfaithful, disloyal, untrustworthy, trustless, trothless, lost to shame, dead to honor, barratrous, dishonestly, mala fide, like a thief in the night, by crooked paths, Int, O tempora!, O mores!, corruptissima respublica plurimae leges.

Vice

VB be vicious, sin, commit sin, do amiss, err, transgress, misdemean oneself, forget oneself, misconduct oneself, misdo, misbehave, fall, lapse, slip, trip, offend, trespass, deviate from the line of duty, deviate from the path of virtue, take a wrong course, go astray, hug a sin, hug a fault, sow one's wild oats, render vicious, demoralize, brutalize, corrupt.

N vice, evil-doing, evil courses, wrongdoing, wickedness, viciousness, iniquity, peccability, demerit, sin, Adam, old Adam, offending Adam, immorality, impropriety, indecorum, scandal, laxity, looseness of morals, enphagy, dophagy, exophagy, want of principle, want of ballast, obliquity, backsliding, infamy, demoralization, pravity, depravity, pollution, hardness of heart, brutality, corruption, knavery, profligacy, flagrancy, atrocity, cannibalism, lesbianism, Sadism, infirmity, weakness, weakness of the flesh, frailty, imperfection, error, weak side, foible, failing, failure, crying sin, besetting sin, defect, deficiency, cloven foot, lowest dregs of vice, sink of iniquity, Alsatian den, gusto picaresco, fault, crime, criminality, sinner, brothel, gambling house, joint, opium den, shooting gallery, crack house, vicious, sinful, sinning, wicked, iniquitous, immoral, unrighteous, wrong, criminal, naughty, incorrect, unduteous, undutiful, unprincipled, lawless, disorderly, contra bonos mores, indecorous, unseemly, improper, dissolute, profligate, scampish, unworthy, worthless, desertless, disgraceful, recreant, reprehensible, blameworthy, uncommendable, discreditable, disreputable, Sadistic, base, sinister, scurvy, foul, gross, vile, black, grave, facinorous, felonious, nefarious, shameful, scandalous, infamous, villainous, of a deep dye, heinous, flagrant, flagitious, atrocious, incarnate, accursed, Mephistophelian, satanic, diabolic, hellish, infernal, stygian, fiendlike, hell-born, demoniacal, devilish, fiendish, miscreated, misbegotten, demoralized, corrupt, depraved, evil-minded, evil-disposed, ill-conditioned, malevolent, heartless, graceless, shameless, virtueless, abandoned, lost to virtue, unconscionable, sunk in iniquity, lost in iniquity, steeped in iniquity, incorrigible, irreclaimable, obdurate, reprobate, past praying for, culpable, reprehensible, unjustifiable, indefensible, inexcusable, inexpiable, unpardonable, irremissible, weak, frail, lax, infirm, imperfect, indiscrete, demoralizing, degrading, wrong, sinfully, without excuse, Int, O tempora!, O mores!, alitur vitium vivitque tegendo, genus est mortis male vivere, mala mens malus animus, nemo repente fuit turpissimus, the trail of the serpent is over them all, to sanction vice and hunt decorum down.