1
as in spoiled
having undergone organic breakdown
rotten, smelly meat that should have been thrown out
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in evil
not conforming to a high moral standard; morally unacceptable
played a rotten trick and then lied about it
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
3
as in unpleasant
not giving pleasure to the mind or senses
had a rotten time while on vacation
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4
as in horrible
extremely unsatisfactory
rotten housing conditions that no one should be forced to tolerate
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5
as in poor
of low quality
I can't do anything with these rotten tools
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Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of rotten
Getting two different movie studios (20th Century Fox and Sony) to agree soon became a moot point, thanks to a bit of rotten luck.
—
Jordan Hoffman, EW.com, 28 June 2025
The smell won’t be as sweet, maybe a little rotten.
—Jessica Farthing, Southern Living, 21 June 2025
In two particularly egregious examples involving baby products described to CNBC, Amazon sent customers used diapers and a chiller with someone else’s rotten breastmilk inside.
—Katie Tarasov, CNBC, 21 June 2025
On scorching days when winds blow across the California desert, the Salton Sea regularly gives off a stench of decay resembling rotten eggs.
—Ian James, Los Angeles Times, 10 June 2025
See All Example Sentences for rotten
Jordan Hoffman, EW.com, 28 June 2025
The smell won’t be as sweet, maybe a little rotten.
—Jessica Farthing, Southern Living, 21 June 2025
In two particularly egregious examples involving baby products described to CNBC, Amazon sent customers used diapers and a chiller with someone else’s rotten breastmilk inside.
—Katie Tarasov, CNBC, 21 June 2025
On scorching days when winds blow across the California desert, the Salton Sea regularly gives off a stench of decay resembling rotten eggs.
—Ian James, Los Angeles Times, 10 June 2025
See All Example Sentences for rotten
Recent Examples of Synonyms for rotten
Adjective
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As Wednesday processes this, the evil one-eyed crow shows up and flies off with her evidence in its beak.—
Jessica M. Goldstein,
Vulture,
6 Aug. 2025
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An avatar for good and an embodiment of evil sit face-to-face, locked in an eternal clash of wills.—
Judy Berman,
Time,
5 Aug. 2025
Adjective
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Once again, America confronts the unpleasant truth that the Constitution does not expressly guarantee a right to vote — and neither will the Supreme Court.—
Sun Sentinel Editorial Board,
Sun Sentinel,
12 Aug. 2025
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The options are unpleasant tenements on one side and unaffordable houses on the other.—
Christopher Bonanos,
Curbed,
11 Aug. 2025
Adjective
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The sandwich, featuring ground meat—generally beef—suspended in a thick, sweet tomatoey sauce, has become an avatar of the horrible school lunch, a cliché that tends to go along with hairnets, greasy aprons, and other elements of canteen grotesquerie.—
Helen Rosner,
New Yorker,
17 Aug. 2025
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The stories have overflowed with a horrible, glorious narrative abundance.—
Lyz Lenz,
Rolling Stone,
16 Aug. 2025
Adjective
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Additionally, over-saturating with water is a poor choice for these floors.—
Daley Quinn,
Southern Living,
16 Aug. 2025
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Specifically, poor capital allocation decisions have destroyed significant value.—
Kenneth Squire,
CNBC,
16 Aug. 2025
Adjective
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Rudy flames out on his first day, though, and ends up working for a shady lawyer named Bruiser (Lana Parrilla) and her gleefully immoral paralegal Deck (P.J. Byrne).—
Dave Nemetz,
TVLine,
12 Aug. 2025
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And that may be a good thing for humanity: For humans to thrive in this new era, immoral corporate executives and world leaders alike need to be replaced by AI, Gawdat advised.—
Emma Burleigh,
Fortune,
6 Aug. 2025
Adjective
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The user revolt got so bad that OpenAI brought back the previous GPT-4o model as an option in an attempt to calm things down.—
ArsTechnica,
ArsTechnica,
15 Aug. 2025
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Not bad for a company built on the back of a $40 plastic-cased watch!—
Oren Hartov,
Robb Report,
15 Aug. 2025
Adjective
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Whether your team is in the middle of a winning run or mired in terrible form, five minutes looking at the standings can convince you that a hundred different futures are possible.—
Anantaajith Raghuraman,
New York Times,
14 Aug. 2025
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While the latter is known for its legendarily terrible English localization, both of these were highly innovative horizontal scrolling shmups for their time.—
Ollie Barder,
Forbes.com,
14 Aug. 2025
Adjective
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The new numbers suggest that slowing rent increases and cheaper gas are offsetting some impacts of President Donald Trump's sweeping tariffs.—
Arkansas Online,
Arkansas Online,
13 Aug. 2025
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Which internet providers offer the cheapest internet in Houston, Texas?—
Roxanne Downer,
USA Today,
13 Aug. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Rotten.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/rotten. Accessed 23 Aug. 2025.
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