CORRUPTING Synonyms: 143 Similar and Opposite Words

corrupting

verb

present participle of corrupt

as in decomposing

to go through decomposition a dead mouse corrupting in the walls produced a terrible smell

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Antonyms & Near Antonyms

as in degrading

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

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Antonyms & Near Antonyms

as in bribing

to influence someone with a bribe he bragged about having corrupted half of the officials on the city council

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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 corrupting The judge also said that Nine PBS must find a third party, such as a former OSS worker, who can help retrieve the data within 30 days and without sharing or corrupting data belonging to other OSS clients. — Scharon Harding, ArsTechnica, 14 Aug. 2026 Validation rules, schema standards and completeness checks at the entry point prevent bad master data from corrupting everything downstream. — Jacqueline Destefano-Tangorra, Forbes.com, 4 Aug. 2026 Character also involves standing up to people who are bankrupting and corrupting this country. — CBS News, 31 May 2026 An early discussion about social contracts comes down to us in Plato’s dialogue Crito in which Socrates, condemned to death for allegedly corrupting the youth, refused an offer to escape from prison. — George G. Szpiro, Big Think, 9 Apr. 2026 Meanwhile, the Pima County Sheriff Office investigating Nancy Guthrie’s disappearance is facing troubles of its own, as a former sheriff has accused current leadership of ‘corrupting’ the crime scene, and a deputy has been arrested and fired on a kidnapping charge. — Giulia Carbonaro, MSNBC Newsweek, 31 Mar. 2026 For Hildegard of Bingen, the German mystic, scientist, composer, and philosopher, women’s maternal bodies were not corrupting and degrading, but strong, nurturing, and creative. — Literary Hub, 18 Mar. 2026 Richard Pazdur, a longtime cancer drug regulator, retired from the CDER director post in December due to concerns that political officials were corrupting the agency’s scientific process. — Lizzy Lawrence, STAT, 6 Mar. 2026 In this way at least, the mayor follows in the path of Socrates by corrupting the young. — Voice Of The People, New York Daily News, 18 Feb. 2026

Recent Examples of Synonyms for corrupting

Verb

But the last inspection was in October, 10 months before dozens of decomposing bodies were found at the South Chicago Chapel funeral home.

— Megan De Mar, CBS News, 17 Aug. 2026
And just over a year after that, the Morgans landed back in the news after authorities found 56 decomposing corpses inside another one of their businesses, South Deering’s South Chicago Chapel.

— Caroline Kubzansky, Chicago Tribune, 17 Aug. 2026

Definition of decomposing

Verb

Reducing thermal resistance within the transistor while preserving electrical performance, and efficiently moving heat away from high-power transistor regions without degrading RF performance.

— Kaif Shaikh, Interesting Engineering, 15 Aug. 2026
The Kremlin has also started to systematically target Ukrainian ports and ships in the Black Sea in hopes of degrading the infrastructure that supports the country’s agricultural exports.

— Alexander Gabuev, Foreign Affairs, 31 July 2026

Definition of degrading

Verb

At a press conference Thursday afternoon, LeVota denied the allegations but identified Legislator DaRon McGee as the candidate that federal prosecutors are accusing LeVota of bribing.

— Ilana Arougheti, Kansas City Star, 8 Aug. 2026
Rand Paul, in particular, seems bent on getting Fauci prosecuted for allegedly bribing and coercing intelligence officials to aid in his cover-up.

— Katherine J. Wu, The Atlantic, 28 July 2026

Definition of bribing

Verb

The state alleges OpenAI's rapid success stems from deceit and exploitation, causing widespread harm to Floridians and subverting public order.

— Lance Eliot, Forbes.com, 19 Aug. 2026
Carter’s collection of fairytale retellings are macabre and sensual, highlighting female violence and subverting expectations of female sexuality at equal turns.

— S.M. Hallow, PEOPLE, 18 Aug. 2026

Definition of subverting

Verb

Still, with more than 40,000 industry jobs lost in the past few years, soundstages and vendor storefronts sitting empty, and lucrative overseas incentives seducing even more production away, things are bleak in town right now.

— Dominic Patten, Deadline, 6 Aug. 2026
The young women acted as underground assassins, seducing Nazi officers, luring them into the woods and killing them.

— Emily Zemler, Rolling Stone, 28 July 2026

Definition of seducing

Verb

The project aims to clear sediment and decaying matter from the bottom of the lake, improve water quality and habitat conditions, reduce erosion and add recreational features and native plants, said city officials.

— Addison Wright, Chicago Tribune, 20 Aug. 2026
After 36 years in service, the historic observatory is also suffering from a decaying orbit made worse by intense solar activity.

— Andrew Paul, Popular Science, 20 Aug. 2026

Definition of decaying

Verb

Anderson said population and labor-force declines, along with the Bay Area’s high housing costs, are weakening both the supply of workers and demand for them in many traditional industries.

— George Avalos, Mercury News, 21 Aug. 2026
Rather than weakening the rule, the authors recommended strengthening it by passing the Roadless Area Conservation Act, which would turn the agency regulations into federal law.

— Dan Peck, ABC News, 20 Aug. 2026

Definition of weakening

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corruptible

corrupting

corruption

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“Corrupting.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/corrupting. Accessed 23 Aug. 2026.

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Synonyms of corrupting

verb

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