ROTTENNESS

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does rottenness mean? 

• ROTTENNESS (noun)
  The noun ROTTENNESS has 2 senses:

1. in a state of progressive putrefaction

2. the quality of rotting and becoming putrid

  Familiarity information: ROTTENNESS used as a noun is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• ROTTENNESS (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

In a state of progressive putrefaction

Classified under:

Nouns denoting stable states of affairs

Synonyms:

corruption; putrescence; putridness; rottenness

Hypernyms ("rottenness" is a kind of...):

putrefaction; rot (a state of decay usually accompanied by an offensive odor)

Derivation:

rotten (having decayed or disintegrated; usually implies foulness)

rotten (damaged by decay; hence unsound and useless)

Sense 2

Meaning:

The quality of rotting and becoming putrid

Classified under:

Nouns denoting attributes of people and objects

Synonyms:

putrescence; rottenness

Hypernyms ("rottenness" is a kind of...):

morbidity; morbidness; unwholesomeness (the quality of being unhealthful and generally bad for you)

Derivation:

rotten (having decayed or disintegrated; usually implies foulness)

 Context examples 

Its panelled rooms, discoloured with the dirt and smoke of a hundred years, I dare say; its decaying floors and staircase; the squeaking and scuffling of the old grey rats down in the cellars; and the dirt and rottenness of the place; are things, not of many years ago, in my mind, but of the present instant.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

I told him “we fed on a thousand things which operated contrary to each other; that we ate when we were not hungry, and drank without the provocation of thirst; that we sat whole nights drinking strong liquors, without eating a bit, which disposed us to sloth, inflamed our bodies, and precipitated or prevented digestion; that prostitute female Yahoos acquired a certain malady, which bred rottenness in the bones of those who fell into their embraces; that this, and many other diseases, were propagated from father to son; so that great numbers came into the world with complicated maladies upon them; that it would be endless to give him a catalogue of all diseases incident to human bodies, for they would not be fewer than five or six hundred, spread over every limb and joint—in short, every part, external and intestine, having diseases appropriated to itself. To remedy which, there was a sort of people bred up among us in the profession, or pretence, of curing the sick. And because I had some skill in the faculty, I would, in gratitude to his honour, let him know the whole mystery and method by which they proceed.

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