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corrupt

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verb

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Synonym Chooser

How does the adjective corrupt differ from other similar words?

Some common synonyms of corrupt are degenerate, iniquitous, nefarious, vicious, and villainous. While all these words mean "highly reprehensible or offensive in character, nature, or conduct," corrupt stresses a loss of moral integrity or probity causing betrayal of principle or sworn obligations.

city hall was rife with corrupt politicians

When might degenerate be a better fit than corrupt?

The meanings of degenerate and corrupt largely overlap; however, degenerate suggests having sunk to an especially vicious or enervated condition.

a degenerate regime propped up by foreign powers

When is iniquitous a more appropriate choice than corrupt?

Although the words iniquitous and corrupt have much in common, iniquitous implies absence of all signs of justice or fairness.

an iniquitous system of taxation

In what contexts can nefarious take the place of corrupt?

The synonyms nefarious and corrupt are sometimes interchangeable, but nefarious suggests flagrant breaching of time-honored laws and traditions of conduct.

the nefarious rackets of organized crime

When would vicious be a good substitute for corrupt?

While in some cases nearly identical to corrupt, vicious may directly oppose virtuous in implying moral depravity, or may connote malignancy, cruelty, or destructive violence.

a vicious gangster

When can villainous be used instead of corrupt?

While the synonyms villainous and corrupt are close in meaning, villainous applies to any evil, depraved, or vile conduct or characteristic.

a villainous assault

Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of corrupt
Adjective
And many of the immigrants who sought asylum in the United States did so because their home governments are corrupt and law enforcement officials frequently mistreat suspects or try to extort them. Trevor Hughes, USA Today, 3 Apr. 2025 This is a corrupt web of government dysfunction and one-upmanship. Lorena O'Neil, Rolling Stone, 1 Apr. 2025
Verb
The 12-page document further claims WWE has a pattern of corrupting officials in several states and that the TKO merger was an attempt to bypass legal liabilities, without providing concrete examples. Russel Honoré, Newsweek, 5 Mar. 2025 Depth and art don’t matter at all when the artist hurts or corrupts or malforms innocence. Mikal Gilmore, Rolling Stone, 16 Feb. 2025 See All Example Sentences for corrupt
Recent Examples of Synonyms for corrupt
Adjective
  • Apple spent years ignoring RCS, allowing iPhones to offer a degraded messaging experience with Android users.
    Ryan Whitwam, ArsTechnica, 1 Apr. 2025
  • Figure 4 shows an example of a daytime camera image in degraded visibility conditions, of a 1 m wide buoy at a range of 2 nautical miles (3.6 miles).
    Sabbir Rangwala, Forbes.com, 28 Mar. 2025
Verb
  • Such ancient artifacts, including those recently found at the pyramid site, have survived in the region for millennia due to the desert’s dryness—ideal for preserving organic materials that would rot in wet climates.
    Sonja Anderson, Smithsonian Magazine, 27 Mar. 2025
  • The piece was about the cycle of life—the apple would rot and eventually disintegrate.
    David Sheff, ARTnews.com, 24 Mar. 2025
Verb
  • Thimerosal degrades into ethylmercury, which was judged not to be a danger at the level that would come from a vaccine.
    Michael Hiltzik, Los Angeles Times, 1 Apr. 2025
  • The quality degrades a bit after the sun goes down.
    PC Magazine, PC Magazine, 29 Mar. 2025
Verb
  • Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images Florida Republican Congresswoman Anna Paulina Luna is accusing leaders from her own party of threatening and bribing other lawmakers to block her effort to allow proxy voting for new parents in the House of Representatives.
    Barbara Sprunt, NPR, 27 Mar. 2025
  • Although the people accused of bribing Jenkins did not receive proper training, they were given roles as law enforcement officials, prosecutors said.
    Natalie Demaree, Miami Herald, 21 Mar. 2025
Adjective
  • For the past week and a half, the phone has been ringing off the hook at SeaWorld’s rescue program as an algae bloom in coastal waters has caused a surge of sick marine mammals and birds.
    Karen Kucher, San Diego Union-Tribune, 28 Mar. 2025
  • By many accounts, Planned Parenthood is an incurably sick beast whose time is nearing its end.
    Erik Baptist, National Review, 28 Mar. 2025
Verb
  • What doesn’t decay this winter can be mulched up next spring.
    Jeff Lowenfels, Anchorage Daily News, 22 Sep. 2022
  • In particular, many theorists have wondered how the great complexity of life can be reconciled with the laws of thermodynamics that suggest that all systems must inevitably decay to a state of greatest disorder.
    The Physics arXiv Blog, Discover Magazine, 29 Apr. 2022
Verb
  • Project 2025 is explicitly derived from the processes used by Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán to subvert his country’s democracy and by Russian leader Vladimir Putin to subvert the inchoate democratic movement after the fall of the Soviet Union.
    DP Opinion, Denver Post, 4 Apr. 2025
  • With a limited color palette and very spare design, the show subverts the commonplace elements of an office and invents a haunting visual language all its own that creeps you out while drawing you in.
    Charlotte Collins, Architectural Digest, 20 Mar. 2025
Adjective
  • Trailing by three runs, the Twins produced four two-out, run-scoring hits and their first crooked number of the season.
    Dan Hayes, New York Times, 2 Apr. 2025
  • However, they’re disbanded in the early moments of this third film as Eisenberg’s character tells a new generation of crooked magicians that his former comrades are dead.
    Rebecca Rubin, Variety, 1 Apr. 2025

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Cite this Entry

“Corrupt.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/corrupt. Accessed 13 Apr. 2025.

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