| The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language: Fourth Edition. 2000. |
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| corrupt |
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| SYLLABICATION: | cor·rupt |
| PRONUNCIATION: |  k -r pt |
| ADJECTIVE: | 1. Marked by immorality and perversion; depraved. 2. Venal; dishonest: a corrupt mayor. 3. Containing errors or alterations, as a text: a corrupt translation. 4. Archaic Tainted; putrid. | | VERB: | Inflected forms: cor·rupt·ed, cor·rupt·ing, cor·rupts
| | TRANSITIVE VERB: | 1. To destroy or subvert the honesty or integrity of. 2. To ruin morally; pervert. 3. To taint; contaminate. 4. To cause to become rotten; spoil. 5. To change the original form of (a text, for example). 6. Computer Science To damage (data) in a file or on a disk. | | INTRANSITIVE VERB: | To become corrupt. | | ETYMOLOGY: | Middle English, from Latin corruptus, past participle of corrumpere, to destroy : com-, intensive pref.; see com– + rumpere, to break; see reup- in Appendix I. | | OTHER FORMS: | cor·rupter, cor·ruptor —NOUN
cor·ruptive —ADJECTIVE
cor·ruptly —ADVERB
cor·ruptness —NOUN
| | SYNONYMS: | corrupt, debase, debauch, deprave, pervert, vitiate These verbs mean to ruin utterly in character or quality: was corrupted by limitless power; debased himself by pleading with the captors; a youth debauched by drugs and drink; indulgence that depraves the moral fiber; perverted her talent by putting it to evil purposes; a proof vitiated by a serious omission.
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| The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition. Copyright © 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by the Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved. |
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