corruption
noun
Simple meaning
Moral perversion; impairment of virtue and moral principles.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
keruhpshuhnSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
kɚˈʌpʃən
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
noun
Moral perversion; impairment of virtue and moral principles
“The luxury and corruption among the upper classes.”
The act of corrupting or of impairing integrity, virtue, or moral principle; the state of being corrupted or debased; loss of purity or integrity.
The act of corrupting or making putrid, or state of being corrupt or putrid; decomposition or disorganization, in the process of putrefaction; putrefaction; deterioration.
Unethical administrative or executive practices (in government or business), including bribery (offering or receiving bribes), conflicts of interest, nepotism, embezzlement, and so on.
The act of changing, or of being changed, for the worse; departure from what is pure, simple, or correct.
Something originally good or pure that has turned evil or impure; a perversion.
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- B1 · Intermediate
- Frequency
- Common
- Typical Use
- Everyday English
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: Moral perversion; impairment of virtue and moral principles
Used this way, corruption is a common word with a clearly unfavourable pull. It turns up most in ethics or values contexts.
“The luxury and corruption among the upper classes.”
- Emotional tone
- Negative
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Moderate
- How common
- Common
- Connotation
- Serious and weighty
- Usage feel
- Precise and approving
Where it naturally appears
- Ethics/values
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
More ways to use corruption
- “The luxury and corruption among the upper classes.”noun
- “He was held on charges of corruption and racketeering.”noun
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Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin
Antonyms
Sense: moral perversion
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.