2
: morally corrupt
3
: extremely unpleasant or inferior
a rotten day
a rotten job
4
: very uncomfortable
feeling rotten
5
: of very poor quality : lousy, abominable
a rotten show
what rotten luck
rottenly
adverb
: to an extreme degree
spoiled rotten
Synonyms
Examples of rotten in a Sentence
Adjective
They did a rotten job.
What rotten weather we're having.
Adverb
Those kids were spoiled rotten by their mother.
Recent Examples on the Web
Gabino Iglesias, NPR, 16 Apr. 2024
When the board of OpenAI staged a bum mutiny last November, throwing out the company’s leadership only to have the bosses return while board members were pressured to resign, something seemed rotten in the state of effective altruism.
—Virginia Heffernan, WIRED, 27 Mar. 2024
See all Example Sentences for rotten 
Adjective
The outside world is dystopia that's slowly killing all humans, but the perfect life of Plymouth Valley is just a facade that hides a community that's rotten at its core.
—Gabino Iglesias, NPR, 16 Apr. 2024
When the board of OpenAI staged a bum mutiny last November, throwing out the company’s leadership only to have the bosses return while board members were pressured to resign, something seemed rotten in the state of effective altruism.
—Virginia Heffernan, WIRED, 27 Mar. 2024
See all Example Sentences for rotten
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'rotten.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
Dictionary Entries Near rotten
Cite this Entry
“Rotten.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/rotten. Accessed 4 May. 2024.
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