# corruption

Pronunciation: say "kuh-RUP-shuhn" /kəˈɹʌpʃən/

## Noun

1. Dishonest or unethical conduct by those in power, such as bribery, nepotism, embezzlement, or conflicts of interest.
   - Simple: Dishonest behavior by people in power, like taking bribes or giving jobs to friends.
   - _The investigation uncovered widespread corruption within the planning department._
   - _Several executives were charged with corruption after the audit revealed hidden payments._
2. The act of impairing someone's integrity, virtue, or moral principle, or the resulting state of being debased.
   - Simple: The act of making someone or something lose its good values, or the state of having lost them.
   - _The novel traces the gradual corruption of an idealistic young lawyer._
   - _Critics warned of the corruption of public morals by unchecked greed._
3. A change for the worse; a departure from what is pure, simple, or correct.
   - Simple: A change that makes something worse, moving it away from its pure or correct form.
   - _Scholars debated the corruption of the original doctrine over the centuries._
   - _The corruption of the recipe across generations left it unrecognizable._
4. In computing, damage to or loss of data through changes to parts of it, made by people deliberately or accidentally or caused by faulty storage or transmission media.
   - Simple: Damage to computer data that changes or destroys parts of it.
   - _Disk corruption made several important documents impossible to open._
   - _Network engineers traced the file corruption to a faulty cable._
5. A nonstandard form of a word, expression, or text, especially one resulting from misunderstanding, mishearing, or transcription error.
   - Simple: A wrong form of a word or phrase that comes from mishearing or copying it incorrectly.
   - _The spelling 'apron' began as a corruption of the older form 'napron.'_
   - _Folk etymology frequently produces a corruption of the original phrase._
6. Something originally good or pure that has become evil or impure; a perversion of its former self.
   - Simple: A good or pure thing that has turned evil or twisted.
   - _The cult struck observers as a corruption of a once-peaceful spiritual movement._
   - _He saw the regime as a corruption of everything the founders had hoped for._
7. The act or process of rotting and breaking down; the putrefaction and deterioration of matter.
   - Simple: The process of rotting or breaking down, or the state of being rotten.
   - _The corruption of the corpse had advanced significantly by the time it was found._
   - _Embalming was intended to delay the body's corruption._
8. The decomposition of biological matter, such as plant or animal remains.
   - Simple: The breaking down of plant or animal matter after it dies.
   - _Microbes drive the corruption of organic material in the compost heap._
   - _Fungi accelerate the corruption of the fallen log into rich humus._
9. The putrid matter produced by decay; the rotten substance that results from rotting.
   - Simple: The rotten matter that is left behind when something decays.
   - _The surgeon drained the corruption from the infected wound._
   - _Beneath the floorboards lay a mass of dark, foul-smelling corruption._

## Origin

Borrowed from French corruption, from Latin corruptiō; it is equivalent to corrupt plus the suffix -ion.

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/corruption (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).