corrupt morally or by intemperance or sensuality
"debauch the young people with wine and women"
"Socrates was accused of corrupting young men"
"Do school counselors subvert young children?"
"corrupt the morals"
make illegal payments to in exchange for favors or influence
"This judge can be bought"
To make corrupt; to change from good to bad; to draw away from the right path; to deprave; to pervert.
"The harsh environment began to corrupt his noble character, drawing him away from the right path."
In plain English: To corrupt something means to make it bad, dirty, or dishonest by changing its original nature for selfish reasons.
"The police officer decided to corrupt his young nephew by giving him illegal money."
lacking in integrity
"humanity they knew to be corrupt...from the day of Adam's creation"
"a corrupt and incompetent city government"
In a depraved state; debased; perverted; morally degenerate; weak in morals.
"The corrupt society had lost all sense of justice and honor, leaving its citizens to live in moral decay."
In plain English: Corrupt means having dishonest intentions and being willing to do wrong things for personal gain instead of doing what is right.
"The corrupt politician accepted bribes to approve unsafe building codes."
Usage: Use "corrupt" as an adjective when describing someone who has been bribed or influenced by unethical behavior, rather than simply being dishonest. This term specifically implies moral decay caused by external pressures like bribery, distinguishing it from general untrustworthiness.
The word "corrupt" comes from the Middle English corrupten, which was borrowed from the Latin corrumpō. Originally, this Latin term meant to break something into pieces, destroy, or ruin.