1. Inducement (as of a public official) by improper means (as bribery) to violate duty (as by committing a felony)
   "he was held on charges of corruption and racketeering"
    
2. Lack of integrity or honesty (especially susceptibility to bribery); use of a position of trust for dishonest gain
   "Corruption in the police force undermined public trust";
   - corruptness
    
3. Destroying someone's (or some group's) honesty or loyalty; undermining moral integrity
   "corruption of a minor";
   - subversion
    
4. Moral perversion; impairment of virtue and moral principles
   "the luxury and corruption among the upper classes";
   - degeneracy, depravation, depravity, putrefaction
    
5. Decay of matter (as by rot or oxidation)
   "The corruption of the fruit made it inedible"
    
6. In a state of progressive putrefaction
   "The corruption of the abandoned food was evident from its foul odour";
   - putrescence, putridness, rottenness
    
7. (computing) alteration of data or files making them unusable or incorrect
   "The file corruption made the document unreadable"
    
8. (linguistics) a word adopted from another language in an altered form
   "The English word 'alligator' is a corruption of the Spanish 'el lagarto'"

Derived forms: corruptions

See also: corrupt, incorrupt

Type of: debasement, decay, degradation, dishonesty, immorality, inducement, inducing, putrefaction, rot

Antonym: incorruption

Encyclopedia: Corruption