corruption
Americannoun
-
the act of corrupting or state of being corrupt.
- Antonyms:
- purity
-
moral perversion; depravity.
- Synonyms:
- immorality, dissolution
- Antonyms:
- purity
-
perversion of integrity.
-
corrupt or dishonest proceedings.
- Antonyms:
- honesty
-
debasement or alteration, as of language or a text.
-
a debased form of a word.
-
putrefactive decay; rottenness.
- Synonyms:
- contamination, pollution, foulness, putrescence, putrefaction, rot
-
any corrupting influence or agency.
-
Computers. the state of being compromised by errors in computer code or stored data, or an action that causes such errors.
The system crash was the result of previously undetected data corruption.
noun
-
the act of corrupting or state of being corrupt
-
moral perversion; depravity
-
dishonesty, esp bribery
-
putrefaction or decay
-
alteration, as of a manuscript
-
an altered form of a word
Usage
What does corruption mean? Corruption most commonly refers to a state in which members of organizations or institutions are engaging in illegal or otherwise dishonest practices to benefit themselves.The term is most often used in the context of such rulebreaking by people who are powerful or who are responsible for the well-being of others, such as politicians, government officials, and police officers.Corruption is a noun form of corrupt, which can be an adjective used to describe people who act in this way (or their actions), or a verb meaning to destroy the integrity of someone or something or cause someone to be dishonest.More generally, corruption can refer to the act or process of someone or something becoming corrupt, depraved, or debased.More specifically, corruption can refer to the alteration of a word or text in a way that deviates from its original or intended form.Example: The investigation revealed a long history of corruption within the agency that extends to its highest ranks.
Other Word Forms
- anticorruption noun
- corruptionist noun
- overcorruption noun
- precorruption noun
Etymology
Origin of corruption
First recorded in 1300–50; Middle English cor(r)upcio(u)n, from Middle French, from Latin corruptiōn-, stem of corruptiō; corrupt, -ion
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Caught up in another case of suspected corruption for public works contracts, he has been forced to step down from the key party position.
From Barron's • Apr. 7, 2026
His personal charisma has been an unquestionable ingredient of his success, but polls suggest many of his supporters have tired of him and the corruption allegations that have swirled around his party.
From BBC • Apr. 5, 2026
The accompanying protests toppled the once-powerful president, Gotabaya Rajapaksa, who was accused of mismanagement and corruption.
From Barron's • Apr. 4, 2026
But the dalliance frayed after widespread antigovernment protests in 2011 drew the Kremlin’s attention to the reach of blogs and social-media platforms that opposition leaders like Alexei Navalny used to rally supporters and expose corruption.
From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 1, 2026
It condemned the corruption of the modern industrial world.
From "The Boys in the Boat: Nine Americans and Their Epic Quest for Gold at the 1936 Berlin Olympics" by Daniel James Brown
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.