cankered

verb

past tense of canker
as in poisoned
to lower in character, dignity, or quality such shameless ambulance chasing cankers the legal profession

Synonyms & Similar Words

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Antonyms & Near Antonyms

Example Sentences

Recent Examples of Synonyms for cankered
  1. poisoned
  2. degraded
  3. corrupted
  4. weakened
  5. deteriorated
  6. damaged
  7. perverted
  8. depraved
Verb
  • The types of crimes weren’t spelled out, but imagine that a President, say, poisoned his estranged spouse and concealed the crime until after leaving the White House.
    — Margaret Talbot, New Yorker, 10 Aug. 2026
  • In addition to the 10 discovered last weekend, two trees were found poisoned in late July and four more in May, Raymore said.
    — Alex Wigglesworth, Los Angeles Times, 8 Aug. 2026
Definition of poisoned
Verb
  • China’s limited farmland has been degraded by overcultivation and excessive use of fertilizers, for instance.
    — Caitlin Welsh, Foreign Affairs, 11 Aug. 2026
  • The filing argued the sequence of testing was critical because Othram's single nucleotide polymorphism, or SNP, testing requires DNA that has not already been depleted or degraded through prior analysis.
    — Greg Wehner, FOXNews.com, 31 July 2026
Definition of degraded
Verb
  • Schumer has been corrupted absolutely in his quest for power.
    — Sun Sentinel Editorial Board, Sun Sentinel, 14 Aug. 2026
  • Thomas Mann—who later changed his mind on such matters—believed that Germany in the First World War was fighting for its unique national soul against a shallow materialist Western civilization corrupted by rationalism.
    — Ian Buruma, New Yorker, 10 Aug. 2026
Definition of corrupted
Verb
  • The ultimate effect of Fedorov appeal to everyone’s better angels, is that Zelensky is weakened, the questions of his electoral legitimacy amplified, and the call for an end to the war bolstered.
    — Nick Paton Walsh, CNN Money, 19 Aug. 2026
  • Positions have hardened, trust has weakened and the room for quiet resolution has narrowed.
    — Sean Pattwell, Forbes.com, 18 Aug. 2026
Definition of weakened
Verb
  • Doctors admitted him to the hospital, but his condition only deteriorated.
    — Beth Mole, ArsTechnica, 12 Aug. 2026
  • In the provincial capital Pontianak, schools suspended in-person classes after air quality deteriorated to unhealthy levels and health officials reported a rise in respiratory illnesses.
    — ABC News, ABC News, 11 Aug. 2026
Definition of deteriorated
Verb
  • More than 1,300 homes were damaged when the quake struck East Nusa Tenggara province on Saturday, with nearly 250 were destroyed on Flores alone.
    — ABC News, ABC News, 17 Aug. 2026
  • Corn is reportedly the crop most commonly damaged by feral swine.
    — Chris Boyer, Scientific American, 16 Aug. 2026
Definition of damaged
Verb
  • More important to Bernstein is what that lust reveals about her characters’ deepest needs, specifically how their need to care and be cared for can be as easily perverted as any other form of desire.
    — David Ehrlich, IndieWire, 9 July 2026
  • Georgia Bernstein’s unsettling directorial debut focuses on how warped and perverted those desires become when they’re taken to their insatiable extremes.
    — Randy Myers, Mercury News, 8 July 2026
Definition of perverted
Verb
  • Online court records show he is charged with first-degree murder dangerous depraved without premeditation.
    — KC Baker, PEOPLE, 2 Apr. 2026
  • Murdering a teenaged iconic athlete shows how deeply depraved the Iranian leadership is.
    — Jackson Thompson, FOXNews.com, 19 Mar. 2026
Definition of depraved
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.

Browse Nearby Words

canker
cankered
cankering
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Cite this Entry

“Cankered.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/cankered. Accessed 20 Aug. 2026.

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