corrupt

Formscorrupts, corrupting, corrupted

1. 1
   adjective

   Willing to act dishonestly for personal gain, especially by accepting bribes.

   The corrupt senator was convicted of accepting bribes from contractors.

   Investigators exposed a network of corrupt police officers.

   Similardishonest, crooked, venal, unscrupulous

   Oppositehonest, incorruptible, upright

   Note

   Bribery is built into the word's history. Latin corrumpō already meant "to bribe" alongside "to destroy, ruin, spoil". It is formed from com- "together" and rumpō "to break in pieces", so the underlying image is of something thoroughly broken. In use, this is the political and official sense, the one that attaches to senators, police officers and other holders of public trust.

2. 2
   verbtransitive

   To change someone or something from good to bad; to lead away from honest or moral behavior.

   Years in office had corrupted his sense of right and wrong.

   Greed and ambition corrupt the values of those who hold power.

   Similarwarp, pervert, debase, deprave

   Note

   Power is the classic subject of this verb: "power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely." Frank Herbert, speaking at UCLA in 1985, turned the saying around and argued that power instead "attracts the corruptible." The participle corrupting sits naturally before influence, as in "his corrupting influence." The verb always takes an object, whether a person, their values or their way of life.

3. 3
   adjective

   Full of errors; not genuine or correct, or left in an invalid state.

   A software glitch left half the saved games corrupt and unplayable.

   The transmitted file arrived corrupt and refused to open.

   Similardamaged, unreadable, invalid

   Oppositeintact, valid

   Note

   Two quite different worlds share this adjective. A textual scholar calls a manuscript corrupt when its wording has drifted from the original. A programmer calls a file or program corrupt when it can no longer be opened or read. The first is the result of falsifying by alteration, and the second comes from introducing errors into data. Both describe a faulty state, never a moral failing.

4. 4
   verbtransitive

   To introduce errors into something, or place it into an invalid state.

   Removing the drive too early can corrupt the data still being written.

   A faulty update corrupted the configuration on every machine.

   Similardamage, scramble

5. 5
   adjective

   In a morally debased state; degenerate or weak in moral character.

   The empire's corrupt nobility cared only for indulgence and display.

   Witnesses described a corrupt and pitiless man who delighted in others' suffering.

   Similardepraved, degenerate, debauched, decadent, immoral

   Oppositevirtuous, moral, upright, pure

   Note

   Here the decay is of character, not of conduct for pay. The King James Bible of 1611 can say the earth itself "was corrupt before God." Shakespeare and Fletcher, writing in 1613, set both meanings in one line: "corrupt minds" procure "knaves as corrupt" to swear against someone. The minds are depraved and the knaves are for hire, which shows how easily this sense runs into the bribe-taking meaning.

6. 6
   verbtransitive

   To debase or make impure by altering it or adding things; to falsify.

   Counterfeiters corrupt the coinage by blending in lesser metals.

   A careless scribe had corrupted the original text with his own insertions.

   Similardebase, adulterate, falsify, taint

7. 7
   adjective

   In a putrid or spoiled state; tainted and unsound.

   The sailors found the stored provisions corrupt after months at sea.

   Air from the corrupt swamp was blamed for the fever.

   Similarputrid, rotten, spoiled, tainted, foul

   Oppositefresh, wholesome, sound

   Note

   This is the physical sense, nearest to the Latin corrumpō "to spoil": food, water or air that has gone bad. Richard Knolles, in The Generall Historie of the Turkes (1603), writes of "corrupt and pestilent bread," pairing it with a word for disease-bearing. Unlike the moral senses, it implies nothing about intention, only unsoundness.

8. 8
   verbtransitive

   To waste, spoil, or use up something until it becomes worthless.

   Rust and damp will corrupt iron tools left in an open shed.

   Years of reckless spending had corrupted the estate beyond recovery.

   Similarspoil, ruin, waste

   Note

   Here the spoiling is slow consumption. The King James Bible of 1611 warns against laying up treasures "where moth and rust doth corrupt." Moths eat cloth and rust eats metal. Nothing is made immoral; it is only used up and made worthless. That verse is the surest place to recognize this sense, which stands far from the moral verb despite the shared form.

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