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
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Recent Examples of corrupt
Michael Shank, MSNBC Newsweek, 27 Oct. 2025
The technology included corrupt automatic shuffling machines that read cards and predicted which player had the best hand.
—Preston Fore, Fortune, 25 Oct. 2025
Christopher Vourlias, Variety, 8 Oct. 2025
As a model named Carl, stuck in a relationship corrupted by microcelebrity and Instagram view counts, Dickinson ticks with exasperation and sarcastic logic, his jaw clenched, his eyes wide and staring.
—Carrie Battan, Vulture, 6 Oct. 2025
See All Example Sentences for corrupt
Adjective
My heroes are leaders who have spent their lives nonviolently resisting corrupt, cruel, unjust and violent regimes.
—Michael Shank, MSNBC Newsweek, 27 Oct. 2025
The technology included corrupt automatic shuffling machines that read cards and predicted which player had the best hand.
—Preston Fore, Fortune, 25 Oct. 2025
Verb
Files were easily lost or corrupted.
—Christopher Vourlias, Variety, 8 Oct. 2025
As a model named Carl, stuck in a relationship corrupted by microcelebrity and Instagram view counts, Dickinson ticks with exasperation and sarcastic logic, his jaw clenched, his eyes wide and staring.
—Carrie Battan, Vulture, 6 Oct. 2025
See All Example Sentences for corrupt
Recent Examples of Synonyms for corrupt
Adjective
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Advertisement Restoring degraded land offers similar payoffs.—
Kaveh Zahedi,
Time,
3 Nov. 2025
-
Previous studies relied on a process known as polymerase chain reaction (PCR), which amplifies small or degraded fragments of DNA, allowing scientists to analyze genetic material even from old or damaged organic matter.—
New Atlas,
New Atlas,
24 Oct. 2025
Verb
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Good drainage also helps prevent crown rot in winter.—
Brandee Gruener,
Southern Living,
31 Oct. 2025
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The rotting corpse flower’s putrid stench cast a spell Thursday across Roseville High School’s campus.—
Ishani Desai,
Sacbee.com,
31 Oct. 2025
Verb
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Mirrors have poor reflectivity and degrade fast, while normal lenses absorb XUV light and stretch the attosecond pulses, blurring their precision.—
Neetika Walter,
Interesting Engineering,
5 Nov. 2025
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Wallin points out that half of the world’s GDP, amounting to $44 trillion, is directly dependent on nature, yet the essential systems that support economic stability continue to be degraded.—
Nia Bowers,
USA Today,
3 Nov. 2025
Verb
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Police were dispatched to the scene and the owner eventually lured the pet back down to the ground by bribing it with a cookie.—
Ella Gonzales,
Fort Worth Star-Telegram,
31 Oct. 2025
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While a dog can be bribed with a squeaky toy and a pig would surely look at the camera when enticed with a sausage on a stick, cats are known for their admirably self-serving demeanors.—
Desiree Anello,
PEOPLE,
29 Oct. 2025
Adjective
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Raimondo Orsi had already gone back to Argentina to look after his sick mother, and Luis Monti had retired.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
7 Nov. 2025
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Air traffic controllers tasked with managing aircraft movements on runways and in the skies are working without pay during the shutdown, leading to more controllers calling in sick and triggering short staff warnings from the FAA.—
Alysa Guffey,
IndyStar,
6 Nov. 2025
Verb
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The leather on the shoes appears to be slightly decayed, worn, cracked and brittle, while the laces and midsole are stained, giving a distressed, lived-in effect.—
Karla Rodriguez,
Footwear News,
27 Oct. 2025
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This approach blends technical discipline, probabilistic pricing and time decay into a cohesive framework.—
Michael Khouw,
CNBC,
27 Oct. 2025
Verb
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The razor-sharp slasher, which leans into and subverts genre tropes, also stars Drew Barrymore, Neve Campbell, Rose McGowan, Courtney Cox, Jamie Kennedy and David Arquette, among others.—
Natalie Oganesyan,
Deadline,
2 Nov. 2025
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All of it—having children because her husband wanted them, putting her career on hold to tend pear trees in a midwestern suburb—might come across as out of character for Smith, who spent her formative years subverting traditional gender roles.—
Amy Weiss-Meyer,
The Atlantic,
31 Oct. 2025
Adjective
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Recent reports that a number of current and former NBA players were allegedly faking injuries and trading inside information with crooked gamblers has left sports fans and media reeling.—
David Hill,
Rolling Stone,
31 Oct. 2025
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After a disastrous attempt at bedding Minde’s ex-girlfriend Edita (Vaidilė Juozaitytė), our flat-top sporting hero with a crooked smile meets Monika (Digna Kulionytė), an ambitious, studious beauty from the middle-class area of town.—
Courtney Howard,
Variety,
30 Oct. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Corrupt.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/corrupt. Accessed 9 Nov. 2025.
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