CORRUPT

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does corrupt mean? 

• CORRUPT (adjective)
  The adjective CORRUPT has 4 senses:

1. lacking in integrity

2. not straight; dishonest or immoral or evasive

3. containing errors or alterations

4. touched by rot or decay

  Familiarity information: CORRUPT used as an adjective is uncommon.

• CORRUPT (verb)
  The verb CORRUPT has 4 senses:

1. corrupt morally or by intemperance or sensuality

2. make illegal payments to in exchange for favors or influence

3. place under suspicion or cast doubt upon

4. alter from the original

  Familiarity information: CORRUPT used as a verb is uncommon.

 Dictionary entry details 

• CORRUPT (adjective)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Lacking in integrity

Context example:

a corrupt and incompetent city government

Similar:

corrupted; debased; vitiated (ruined in character or quality)

bribable; corruptible; dishonest; purchasable; venal (capable of being corrupted)

depraved; perverse; perverted; reprobate (deviating from what is considered moral or right or proper or good)

dirty; shoddy; sordid (unethical or dishonest)

Praetorian; Pretorian (characteristic of or similar to the corruptible soldiers in the Praetorian Guard with respect to corruption or political venality)

putrid (morally corrupt or evil)

sold-out (having taken a bribe or bribes)

Also:

immoral (deliberately violating accepted principles of right and wrong)

Attribute:

corruption; corruptness (lack of integrity or honesty (especially susceptibility to bribery); use of a position of trust for dishonest gain)

Antonym:

incorrupt (free of corruption or immorality)

Derivation:

corruptness (the state of being corrupt)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Not straight; dishonest or immoral or evasive

Synonyms:

corrupt; crooked

Similar:

sneaky; underhand; underhanded (marked by deception)

Also:

dishonest; dishonorable (deceptive or fraudulent; disposed to cheat or defraud or deceive)

unlawful (contrary to or prohibited by or defiant of law)

Attribute:

honestness; honesty (the quality of being honest)

Derivation:

corruptness (lack of integrity or honesty (especially susceptibility to bribery); use of a position of trust for dishonest gain)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Containing errors or alterations

Synonyms:

corrupt; corrupted

Context example:

spoke a corrupted version of the language

Similar:

imperfect (not perfect; defective or inadequate)

Sense 4

Meaning:

Touched by rot or decay

Synonyms:

corrupt; tainted

Context example:

'corrupt' is archaic

Similar:

stale (lacking freshness, palatability, or showing deterioration from age)

• CORRUPT (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they corrupt    ... he / she / it corrupts   
Past simple: corrupted   
Past participle: corrupted   
-ing form: corrupting   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Corrupt morally or by intemperance or sensuality

Classified under:

Verbs of political and social activities and events

Synonyms:

corrupt; debase; debauch; demoralise; demoralize; deprave; misdirect; pervert; profane; subvert; vitiate

Context example:

corrupt the morals

Hypernyms (to "corrupt" is one way to...):

alter; change; modify (cause to change; make different; cause a transformation)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "corrupt"):

carnalise; carnalize; sensualise; sensualize (debase through carnal gratification)

infect (corrupt with ideas or an ideology)

lead astray; lead off (teach immoral behavior to)

poison (spoil as if by poison)

bastardise; bastardize (change something so that its value declines; for example, art forms)

suborn (incite to commit a crime or an evil deed)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s somebody
Something ----s somebody

Derivation:

corruptible (capable of being corrupted)

corruption (destroying someone's (or some group's) honesty or loyalty; undermining moral integrity)

corruptive (tending to corrupt or pervert)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Make illegal payments to in exchange for favors or influence

Classified under:

Verbs of buying, selling, owning

Synonyms:

bribe; buy; corrupt; grease one's palms

Context example:

This judge can be bought

Hypernyms (to "corrupt" is one way to...):

pay (give money, usually in exchange for goods or services)

Domain category:

crime; criminal offence; criminal offense; law-breaking ((criminal law) an act punishable by law; usually considered an evil act)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "corrupt"):

sop (give a conciliatory gift or bribe to)

buy off; pay off (pay someone with influence in order to receive a favor)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s somebody

Sentence example:

Sam cannot corrupt Sue

Derivation:

corruptible (capable of being corrupted)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Place under suspicion or cast doubt upon

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

Synonyms:

cloud; corrupt; defile; sully; taint

Context example:

sully someone's reputation

Hypernyms (to "corrupt" is one way to...):

deflower; impair; mar; spoil; vitiate (make imperfect)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Something ----s somebody
Something ----s something

Sense 4

Meaning:

Alter from the original

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

Synonyms:

corrupt; spoil

Hypernyms (to "corrupt" is one way to...):

modify (make less severe or harsh or extreme)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "corrupt"):

adulterate; debase; dilute; load; stretch (corrupt, debase, or make impure by adding a foreign or inferior substance; often by replacing valuable ingredients with inferior ones)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

 Context examples 

“The smallest fluctuation or deviation will corrupt the quantum information contained in the phases and currents of the loops,” said Lepage.

(Quantum state of single electrons controlled by ‘surfing’ on sound waves, University of Cambridge)

I shall say nothing of those remote nations where Yahoos preside; among which the least corrupted are the Brobdingnagians; whose wise maxims in morality and government it would be our happiness to observe.

(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)

The device software attempted to access an illegal or corrupted memory location.

(Device Runtime Memory Access Error Evaluation Result, Food and Drug Administration)

Event in which information is unintentionally permanently or temporarily lost, deleted, corrupted, or overwritten.

(Data Corrupted Computer Software Problem Associated with Medical Device, Food and Drug Administration)

Event in which measurement functions produce erroneous results or the image display is corrupted.

(Image Display Error Medical Device Problem, Food and Drug Administration)

It was not alone that it was composed of all the ills of mortality and with the pungent, acrid smell of blood, but it seemed as though corruption had become itself corrupt.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

Data was lost or corrupted during the operation of reducing storage space or communication bandwidth.

(Device Data Compression Error Evaluation Result, Food and Drug Administration)

Issue associated with the inability to backup or to retrieve a backed up version (corrupted file) of device data or system files.

(Failure to Back-Up Software Problem Associated with Medical Device, Food and Drug Administration)

An ultrasensitive test has been developed that detects a corrupted protein associated with Alzheimer’s disease and chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), a condition found in athletes, military veterans, and others with a history of repetitive brain trauma.

(New test detects protein associated with Alzheimer’s and CTE, National Institutes of Health)

I know that James Steerforth, she said, with her hand on her bosom, as if to prevent the storm that was raging there, from being loud, has a false, corrupt heart, and is a traitor.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)