corruption

UK: /kəˈrʌpʃ^ən/ US: /kəˈrʌpʃən/ ,(kə rup′shən)

WordReference Random House Learner's Dictionary of American English © 2025

cor•rup•tion /kəˈrʌpʃən/   n. [uncountable]

1. an act or instance of corrupting:
   a police department free of corruption.
2. forcing young people to behave immorally:
   charged with corruption of a minor.
3. decay:
   the corruption of the body after death.

WordReference Random House Unabridged Dictionary of American English © 2025

cor•rup•tion  (kə rup′shən), n. 

1. the act of corrupting or state of being corrupt.
2. moral perversion;
   depravity.
3. perversion of integrity.
4. corrupt or dishonest proceedings.
5. bribery.
6. debasement or alteration, as of language or a text.
7. Linguistics a debased form of a word.
8. putrefactive decay;
   rottenness.
9. any corrupting influence or agency.

• Latin corruptiōn-, stem of corruptiō. See corrupt, -ion
• Anglo-French)
• Middle English corrupcio(u)n (1300–50

Synonyms

• 2. dissolution, immorality.
• 8. rot, putrefaction, putrescence, foulness, pollution, contamination.

Antonyms

• 1. –3. purity.
• 3, 4. honesty.

Collins Concise English Dictionary © HarperCollins Publishers::

corruption / kəˈrʌpʃən/ noun

1. the act of corrupting or state of being corrupt
2. moral perversion; depravity
3. dishonesty, esp bribery
4. putrefaction or decay
5. alteration, as of a manuscript
6. an altered form of a word