corrupt Meaning, Definition & Usage

verb corrupt morally or by intemperance or sensuality
pervert; debase; profane; misdirect; subvert; debauch; deprave; vitiate; demoralise; demoralize.
- debauch the young people with wine and women
- Socrates was accused of corrupting young men
- Do school counselors subvert young children?
- corrupt the morals
verb make illegal payments to in exchange for favors or influence
grease one's palms; buy; bribe.
- This judge can be bought
verb place under suspicion or cast doubt upon
sully; defile; taint; cloud.
- sully someone's reputation
verb alter from the original
spoil.
adjective lacking in integrity
- humanity they knew to be corrupt...from the day of Adam's creation
- a corrupt and incompetent city government
adjective not straight; dishonest or immoral or evasive
crooked.
adjective satellite containing errors or alterations
corrupted.
- a corrupt text
- spoke a corrupted version of the language
adjective satellite touched by rot or decay
tainted.
- tainted bacon
- `corrupt' is archaic

L. corruptus, p. p. of corrumpere to corrupt; cor- + rumpere to break. See Rupture.

Changed from a sound to a putrid state; spoiled; tainted; vitiated; unsound.
Who with such corrupt and pestilent bread would feed them. Knolles.
Changed from a state of uprightness, correctness, truth, etc., to a worse state; vitiated; depraved; debased; perverted; as, corrupt language; corrupt judges.
At what ease Might corrupt minds procure knaves as corrupt To swear against you. Shak.
Abounding in errors; not genuine or correct; as, the text of the manuscript is corrupt.

imperfect & past participle Corrupted; present participle & verbal noun Corrupting

To change from a sound to a putrid or putrescent state; to make putrid; to putrefy.
To change from good to bad; to vitiate; to deprave; to pervert; to debase; to defile.
Evil communications corrupt good manners. 1. Cor. xv. 33.
To draw aside from the path of rectitude and duty; as, to corrupt a judge by a bribe.
Heaven is above all yet; there sits a Judge That no king can corrupt. Shak.
To debase or render impure by alterations or innovations; to falsify; as, to corrupt language; to corrupt the sacred text.
He that makes an ill use of it [language], though he does not corrupt the fountains of knowledge, . . . yet he stops the pines. Locke.
To waste, spoil, or consume; to make worthless.
Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt. Matt. vi. 19.