corrupted 1 of 2

adjective

as in rotten
having undergone organic breakdown corrupted corpses that sickened the animal control officers sent to investigate

Synonyms & Similar Words

Relevance

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

corrupted

2 of 2

verb

past tense of corrupt
1
as in decomposed
to go through decomposition a dead mouse corrupting in the walls produced a terrible smell

Synonyms & Similar Words

Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in degraded
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 bribed
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 corrupted
Adjective
The anime merely depicts a border spat between a few small nations, whereas the manga is more global in reach and also deals with much of the underlying mysteries of the corrupted world the characters now live in. — Ollie Barder, Forbes.com, 29 July 2026 Clark has a lot in common with Sam Neill’s corrupted scientist in Event Horizon. — Tasha Robinson, Vulture, 29 May 2026 His corrupted Justice Department sought to get Peters sprung from Colorado prison, presumably to set her loose from a federal facility. — Mark Barabak, Mercury News, 28 May 2026 Now imagine that kind of corrupted, perverted system of justice writ large. — Los Angeles Times, 24 May 2026 Every subsequent read of the file sees the corrupted version, even though the attacker only ever had read access. — Dan Goodin, ArsTechnica, 11 May 2026 This means their control of a corrupted American political system will have ramifications worldwide. — Elizabeth Shackelford, Twin Cities, 7 May 2026 Journey across the world as Kena, a spirit guide who partners with magical critters called Rot to cleanse a corrupted land. — George Yang, PC Magazine, 1 May 2026 Her work plainly belongs to this lineage of witchy writers, women whose deliciously corrupted scenes of home and hearth produce fear and wild laughter at once. — Kristen Roupenian, New Yorker, 6 Apr. 2026
Verb
Most of the other relationships in the movie are hopelessly corrupted or poisoned in some way, as Letty moves between an unloving mother and a vengeful former lover, and others whose closeness is a weapon to be feared. — Jim Hemphill, IndieWire, 28 July 2026 The unsightly mushroom could have corrupted her maids’ morals, or even their health. — Leah Hudson, Popular Science, 9 July 2026 If religion is corrupted by breaking down the wall of separation, much the same is true of the state. — Kenneth Seeskin, Chicago Tribune, 5 July 2026 Systems must remain safe not only when components fail naturally, but when data is corrupted, communication is interrupted or execution is violated. — John Wall, Forbes.com, 28 May 2026 And then Grisebach uses that distaff twist once again, to comment more broadly on the patriarchal nature and gendered violence of power structures corrupted by historical conflict. — Jessica Kiang, Variety, 22 May 2026 Supposedly less corrupted by foreign and capitalist influences, old people were more trusted and given accordingly greater autonomy. — Matthew Campbell, Bloomberg, 22 May 2026 The Arch of Nero both honored republicanism and warned that it was being corrupted by the war and, inevitably, its aftermath. — Tyler Green, The Atlantic, 21 May 2026 In an era when youth sports can sometimes feel corrupted by money, pressure and adult ego, the Lee Corso Legacy Fund serves as a reminder of what sports are supposed to be about in the first place. — Mike Bianchi, The Orlando Sentinel, 6 May 2026
Recent Examples of Synonyms for corrupted
  1. rotten
  2. decomposed
  3. degraded
  4. bribed
  5. spoiled
  6. decayed
  7. weakened
  8. seduced
Adjective
  • The meeting comes after Lineage Logistics, which operates the 500,000-square-foot facility, has already been cited by AQMD officials for the rotten odor.
    — Dean Fioresi, CBS News, 6 Aug. 2026
  • The veal barn had a smell Birdie had never smelled anywhere else—antiseptic, then sweet like a flower and rotten like manure.
    — Rachel Yoder, New Yorker, 2 Aug. 2026
Definition of rotten
Verb
  • The victim was so badly decomposed, the medical examiner couldn’t even estimate her age or ethnicity.
    — Nancy Dillon, Rolling Stone, 5 Aug. 2026
  • Its recruit and redeploy stages require roles decomposed into explicit tasks—making what AI can augment answerable task by task.
    — Manu Khetan, Forbes.com, 29 July 2026
Definition of decomposed
Verb
  • 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
  • Global conflict has already degraded the collaborative atmosphere at CERN, Llewellyn Smith said.
    — Lisa Song, CNN Money, 28 July 2026
Definition of degraded
Verb
  • In 2015, a lower court convicted the former prime minister of having bribed a senator, handing him a three-year sentence.
    — CBS News, CBS News, 10 Aug. 2026
  • Then on Thursday, less than a month later, a federal indictment was unsealed alleging that LeVota bribed a county lawmaker in order to ensure their recusal from the race for the county’s top seat.
    — Ilana Arougheti, Kansas City Star, 8 Aug. 2026
Definition of bribed
Adjective
  • Lineage has also been cited by the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health for rodent and pest control violations, which became an issue in the early days of the cleanup as they were attracted by the spoiled food.
    — Dean Fioresi, CBS News, 7 Aug. 2026
  • Workers have cleared out and sanitized the eastern freezer, which was largely destroyed in the fire and filled with spoiled food and charred debris.
    — Tony Briscoe, Los Angeles Times, 6 Aug. 2026
Definition of spoiled
Verb
  • The resulting collisions formed excited compound nuclei that decayed through multiple gamma-ray steps.
    — Aman Tripathi, Interesting Engineering, 1 Aug. 2026
  • In order to have aqueous alteration there needs to be some internal heating [usually via radioactive elements] and if something forms later than everything else then there will be less heat [since many of the radioactive elements will have already decayed].
    — Keith Cooper, Space.com, 19 June 2026
Definition of decayed
Verb
  • Burger’s appointment, therefore, was concerning to criminal defense attorneys and civil rights activists, who feared that the Warren Court’s landmark decisions would be weakened or overturned.
    — Quinn Yeargain, The Conversation, 11 Aug. 2026
  • Business in the greater Tokyo area was almost back to normal Wednesday after a tropical storm weakened to a depression and left Japan, with transportation operating normally and power restored to most homes.
    — ABC News, ABC News, 11 Aug. 2026
Definition of weakened
Verb
  • That book is a revenge fantasy about the former art school professor who seduced her, discarded her and destroyed her confidence as a painter.
    — The Week UK, TheWeek, 2 July 2026
  • So instead of Syrax, the Blacks get close air support from Jace on Vermax and Moondancer, ridden by Baela, who is easily seduced into battle by Jace’s unchecked hero complex.
    — Amanda Whiting, Vulture, 22 June 2026
Definition of seduced

Browse Nearby Words

corrupt
corrupted
corrupter
See all Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

“Corrupted.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/corrupted. Accessed 13 Aug. 2026.

Copy Citation

More from Merriam-Webster on corrupted

Nglish: Translation of corrupted for Spanish Speakers

Last Updated: - Updated example sentences
Love words? Need even more definitions?

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!

More from Merriam-Webster

Word of the Day

Listen to the pronunciation of salvo

See Definitions and Examples »

Popular in Grammar & Usage

See More

A Who’s Who Regarding ‘Who’s’ and ‘Whose’

7 Pairs of Commonly Confused Words

Is that lie 'bald-faced' or 'bold-faced'?

'A' or 'an'? What about before 'h'? An Indefinite Article Guide

Why is '-ed' sometimes pronounced at the end of a word?
See More

Popular in Wordplay

See More

Words from the 'Odyssey'

The Longest Long Words List

It's a Scorcher! Words for the Summer Heat

12 Lovely and Unusual Words for the Natural World

'Gaslighting,' 'Woke,' 'Democracy,' and Other Top Lookups
See More

Popular

See More

A Who’s Who Regarding ‘Who’s’ and ‘Whose’

Words from the 'Odyssey'

The Longest Long Words List
See More

Games & Quizzes

See All
Play Quordle: Guess all four words in a limited number of tries. Each of your guesses must be a real 5-letter word.
Quordle Can you solve 4 words at once?
Play Blossom: Solve today's spelling word game by finding as many words as you can using just 7 letters. Longer words score more points.
Blossom Pick the best words!
Play Missing Letter: a crossword with a twist. Each of the 25 puzzle words start with a different letter of the alphabet. Which letter is missing?
The Missing Letter A daily crossword with a twist
fridge-magnet-letters
Drop a Letter Quiz August 2026 Drop a letter from a word to make a totally diffe...
See All