as in degraded
having or showing lowered moral character or standards
corrupt businessmen who are out to fleece the public corrupt business practices that should be investigated
Synonyms & Similar Words
Relevance
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
1
as in to rot
to go through decomposition
a dead mouse corrupting in the walls produced a terrible smell
Synonyms & Similar Words
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in to degrade
to lower in character, dignity, or quality
some observers believe that grossly violent movies corrupt the people who watch them as well as the people who make them
Synonyms & Similar Words
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
3
as in to bribe
to influence someone with a bribe
he bragged about having corrupted half of the officials on the city council
Synonyms & Similar Words
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
Beth Mole, ArsTechnica, 4 Sep. 2025
This environment of mass detentions, human rights violations and secrecy has created a lucrative side business for corrupt official who prey on family members of the imprisoned.
—Antonio María Delgado, Miami Herald, 2 Sep. 2025
Zak Doffman, Forbes.com, 21 Aug. 2025
There’s a lingering question of whether Dance Mom was a fraud from the beginning or if she gets corrupted as a result of becoming famous overnight as a regular guest on Late Night.
—Pamela McClintock, HollywoodReporter, 21 Aug. 2025
See All Example Sentences for corrupt
Adjective
Kennedy went on to reiterate the dangerous claim that the CDC is corrupt.
—Beth Mole, ArsTechnica, 4 Sep. 2025
This environment of mass detentions, human rights violations and secrecy has created a lucrative side business for corrupt official who prey on family members of the imprisoned.
—Antonio María Delgado, Miami Herald, 2 Sep. 2025
Verb
This comes as reports continue to roll in that another August update fail has been corrupting PC SSDs when writing large files.
—Zak Doffman, Forbes.com, 21 Aug. 2025
There’s a lingering question of whether Dance Mom was a fraud from the beginning or if she gets corrupted as a result of becoming famous overnight as a regular guest on Late Night.
—Pamela McClintock, HollywoodReporter, 21 Aug. 2025
See All Example Sentences for corrupt
Recent Examples of Synonyms for corrupt
Adjective
-
Developed by Toyota, the Sweep Energy Storage System rapidly switches each battery’s power flow on and off in mere microseconds, even when new batteries are connected to degraded or different capacity batteries.—
Georgina Jedikovska,
Interesting Engineering,
22 Aug. 2025
-
Yet, as Beech pointed out, a lot of the material goods actually from the ‘70s are of a lower quality than earlier decades and also more degraded than the period relics of the ‘80s and ‘90s.—
Sarah Shachat,
IndieWire,
22 Aug. 2025
Verb
-
Check each tomato for pest damage or disease such as blossom end rot.—
Mary Marlowe Leverette,
Southern Living,
7 Sep. 2025
-
It can also be used to describe the brain-rotting content itself.—
Safiyah Riddle,
Fortune,
7 Sep. 2025
Verb
-
Long-term drought has degraded the old-growth forest where the squirrels live.—
John Leos,
AZCentral.com,
3 Sep. 2025
-
Design for Choice, Not Chaos Present customers with multiple options, from digital wallets to local payment rails, without degrading user experience.—
Christer Holloman,
Forbes.com,
3 Sep. 2025
Verb
-
According to court records, Recio agreed to bribe Costanzo, who was the DEA supervisor in Miami, in exchange for his providing the private investigator with confidential information about narcotics investigations.—
Jay Weaver,
Miami Herald,
29 Aug. 2025
-
Reviewing fake CDLs experts say are sometimes issued by unscrupulous American trucking schools or bribed Mexican bureaucrats.—
Trevor Hughes,
USA Today,
26 Aug. 2025
Adjective
-
Some doctors might not even immediately recognize symptoms in a sick patient because vaccines have made many contagious diseases rare in this country, said Marty, the FIU expert.—
Michelle Marchante,
Miami Herald,
4 Sep. 2025
-
However, some can, and those with risk factors can certainly become very sick.—
Katia Hetter,
CNN Money,
4 Sep. 2025
Verb
-
Researchers from each, plus the United States, were attempting to decipher the challenges presented by opposing either a regime or a decaying democracy.—
Ron Scherf,
Time,
5 Sep. 2025
-
Their decaying carcasses led to the rapid deterioration of water quality and an explosion of harmful bacteria, researchers said.—
Lauren Liebhaber
September 5,
Miami Herald,
5 Sep. 2025
Verb
-
Added to this natural reluctance, competition between institutions has subverted collaboration to increase net welfare.—
David G.W. Birch,
Forbes.com,
7 Sep. 2025
-
Much of how the show subverts expectation is through its cast — Will Lipton, Zendé Murdock, Axel Ellis, Jesse Golliher, and Jeremy Yun — a group of twenty-somethings hailing from across the country who, since their casting, have become a real band amid an industry rock resurgence.—
Abbey White,
HollywoodReporter,
6 Sep. 2025
Adjective
-
The dust of Ogunleye, the crooked end of the street, the large canal by my uncle’s shop, the small stream of water that flowed behind our house into the large canal at the other end of the street, the foul smell that overcame the street the first time, the getting used to, the boys.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
3 Sep. 2025
-
For a Chicago Cubs lineup that has struggled lately to consistently score runs, let alone put up a crooked number, Friday’s opener against the Colorado Rockies provided the ideal bounce-back environment coming off the sweep in San Francisco.—
Meghan Montemurro,
Chicago Tribune,
30 Aug. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Corrupt.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/corrupt. Accessed 9 Sep. 2025.
Copy CitationLove words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
Share