corruption
gb/kɚˈʌpʃən/ us/kɚˈʌpʃən/
B2
English
~ 7000
Senses
0 senses
Noun
B2
state
1
dishonest or illegal use of power
Dishonest or illegal actions by people in power who use their job to get money or special help for themselves or their friends.
Usage pattern:
corruption in [organization/sector]
Common mistake:
Learners sometimes use *corruption* for any bad behavior, even small rule-breaking in daily life. In modern English, this sense is mainly used for serious dishonest or illegal behavior, especially by officials, businesses, or institutions. For smaller personal actions, words like *cheating* or *lying* are usually more natural.
Synonyms
dishonesty (More general and can refer to any kind of lying or cheating, not only by officials.)
|
graft (Often used especially for corruption involving money and public office, slightly more informal and political-journalistic.)
|
bribery (Refers specifically to giving or taking money or gifts to influence decisions; one common form of corruption.)
Antonyms
integrity (Stresses strong moral principles and refusal to be corrupt.)
|
honesty (General opposite, focusing on telling the truth and not cheating.)
Collocations
political corruption
|widespread corruption
|endemic corruption
|allegations of corruption
|fight corruption
|root out corruption
Themes
politics
|law
|business
Examples
- The investigation revealed widespread corruption in the local government.
- They set up a special agency to fight corruption in the police force.
- Allegations of corruption forced the minister to resign from office.
- Public trust was badly damaged by the corruption scandal.
- New laws were introduced to reduce corruption in public contracts.
Learner examples
- There is a lot of corruption in that country.
- The new president promised to stop corruption.
- Police corruption makes people afraid to report crimes.
- The news talked about a big corruption case.
- Many voters are angry about government corruption.
Noun
C1
state
2
moral decay or loss of purity
A slow change that makes a person or group lose good morals and become less honest or pure.
Usage pattern:
corruption of [someone's/society's] morals/values
Common mistake:
Learners sometimes mix this moral sense with the political/business sense. When *corruption* is followed by *of the youth, of values, of the soul*, it usually means moral decay, not just illegal activity. When it follows words like *government, police, officials*, it usually refers to illegal or dishonest behavior for money or power.
Synonyms
depravity (Stronger and more formal, often suggesting very evil or perverse behavior.)
|
degeneracy (Formal and slightly technical; emphasizes decline from a higher or healthier moral state.)
Antonyms
virtue (Stresses strong moral goodness and good habits.)
|
purity (Focuses on innocence and freedom from moral fault or bad influence.)
Collocations
moral corruption
|spiritual corruption
|corruption of values
|corruption of youth
|inner corruption
Themes
values
|society
|ethics
|core_vocabulary
Examples
- The novel traces the moral corruption of a once idealistic young lawyer.
- Many parents worry about the corruption of children by violent media.
- The film shows the slow corruption of a community as fear replaces trust.
- He saw the luxury and greed around him as signs of spiritual corruption.
- They blamed the corruption of traditional values on rapid social change.
Learner examples
- The story is about the corruption of a good man.
- Some people fear the moral corruption of modern society.
- She worries about the corruption of young people by the internet.
- He escaped the corruption of city life and moved to a small town.
- The movie shows the corruption of a kind leader over many years.
Noun
technical
B2
state
3
damage to digital data
A problem where computer data or files become broken or changed so they do not work or show the right information.
Usage pattern:
corruption of [data/file/system]
Common mistake:
Learners may confuse *corruption* with *virus*. A virus is a program that can harm a computer, while *corruption* is the result of damage to data or files, which can be caused by many things, not only viruses.
Synonyms
damage (Very general; used in many contexts, not only for digital information.)
|
data loss (Emphasizes that information is gone, while *corruption* can mean it is still there but incorrect or unreadable.)
Antonyms
integrity (Often used as *data integrity* to mean data is whole, correct, and unchanged.)
|
reliability (Focuses on the system working correctly and not producing corrupted data.)
Collocations
data corruption
|file corruption
|disk corruption
|database corruption
|memory corruption
Themes
technology
|computing
Examples
- The file will not open because of data corruption on the USB drive.
- Regular backups can protect you from data corruption caused by hardware failures.
- A bug in the program led to database corruption after the update.
- The engineer checked the logs for signs of memory corruption.
- Unexpected shutdowns can increase the risk of disk corruption.
Learner examples
- There was data corruption, so the file is broken.
- We lost some photos because of file corruption.
- The company makes backups to avoid data corruption.
- A virus can cause corruption of your files.
- The game crashed and this caused save-file corruption.
Noun
formal
C1
entity
4
altered form of a word or text
A changed form of a word, name, or text that is seen as wrong or less correct than the original form.
Usage pattern:
a corruption of [word/name/original phrase]
Common mistake:
Learners may think *corruption* here always means something morally bad. In language study, it often simply labels a changed or nonstandard form, sometimes neutrally or historically, not necessarily as a moral judgment.
Synonyms
distortion (Emphasizes that the form or meaning has been twisted or changed from the original.)
|
deformation (Formal; focuses on change in form, often without the strong moral judgment that *corruption* implies.)
Antonyms
original (Refers to the first, correct form before any later changes.)
|
standard form (The accepted, correct form of a word or expression in current usage.)
Collocations
a corruption of [a word]
|linguistic corruption
|textual corruption
|a mere corruption
|a later corruption
Themes
language
|linguistics
|communication
|education
|core_vocabulary
Examples
- The place name is a modern corruption of a much older Celtic word.
- Some linguists argue that the so-called slang term is not a corruption but a natural development of the language.
- Scholars believe the strange spelling is a later corruption in the manuscript tradition.
- The teacher explained that this form of the verb is a common corruption in casual speech.
- The surname appears to be a corruption of a French family name.
Learner examples
- The word *okay* is sometimes said to be a corruption of *all correct*.
- This city name is a corruption of an old river name.
- Many people think the short form is just a corruption of the full word.
- The wrong letter in the text is a corruption from a later copy.
- That family name is a corruption of a longer name.
Noun
literary
C2
event
5
decay or rotting of organic matter
The slow rotting and breaking down of dead bodies or plants, usually with a bad smell.
Usage pattern:
the corruption of [body/flesh/organic matter]
Synonyms
decay (More common and neutral; used for both physical and sometimes moral decline.)
|
putrefaction (Technical or literary; specifically refers to the rotting of animal tissue.)
Antonyms
preservation (Focuses on keeping something from decaying or breaking down.)
|
freshness (Opposite in terms of physical state; suggests something is new and not decayed.)
Collocations
physical corruption
|corruption of the flesh
|signs of corruption
|stink of corruption
Themes
nature
|biology
|science
Examples
- The air in the old tomb was thick with the smell of corruption.
- In the hot sun, the corruption of the abandoned food was rapid and obvious.
- The poet describes the slow corruption of the body after death.
- Flies gathered quickly, drawn by the first signs of corruption.
- They used salt to delay the corruption of the meat during the long voyage.
Learner examples
- The room smelled of corruption from the dead animal.
- Heat can speed up the corruption of meat.
- They tried to stop the corruption of the body with ice.
- The book talks about the corruption of the flesh after death.
- Doctors studied the corruption of tissue in the lab.
Grammar
Dictionary form
corruption
IPA
GB/kɚˈʌpʃən/
US/kɚˈʌpʃən/
Syllables & stress
cor - rup - tion (3 syllables)
Stress on 1st syllable (cor)
Word forms
Noun
- Base: corruption
- Plural: corruption, corruptions
Word family
Forms
corruptions
noun
Core family
corrupt
verb B1
corruptly
adverb
Related words
corruptor
noun
corruptible
adjective
corruptibility
noun
Negative and opposite forms
incorruptible
adjective
Advanced or less common
incorruptibility
noun
incorruptibly
adverb
Expressions
allegations of corruption
1/ˌæləɡˈeɪʃənz əv kɚˈʌpʃən/
fixed phrase
claims about corrupt behavior
Statements that say someone has done corrupt or illegal things, but that are not yet proven true.
Examples
- The minister resigned after allegations of corruption appeared in the press.
- He strongly denied all allegations of corruption made against him.
- Allegations of corruption are being investigated by an independent committee.
corruption of minors
1/kɚˈʌpʃən əv mˈaɪnɚz/
fixed phrase
formal
crime of morally harming minors
A legal term for a crime where an adult leads children or teenagers into sexual or other very bad behavior.
Examples
- He was charged with corruption of minors after the investigation.
- The law on corruption of minors is designed to protect children from exploitation.
- The court found him guilty of corruption of minors and sentenced him to prison.
corruption scandal
1/kɚˈʌpʃən skˈændəl/
fixed phrase
public case revealing corruption
A big public event where people discover that leaders or organizations have been involved in corruption.
Examples
- The corruption scandal brought down the entire government.
- After the corruption scandal, several executives were arrested.
- The company’s image never recovered from the corruption scandal.
data corruption
1/dˈætə kɚˈʌpʃən/
fixed phrase
technical
damage to computer data
A problem where computer data is damaged or changed so it becomes wrong or cannot be read correctly.
Examples
- The backup system protects against data corruption during power failures.
- Data corruption caused several records in the database to become unreadable.
- Engineers are trying to find the source of the data corruption.
fight corruption
1/fˈaɪt kɚˈʌpʃən/
fixed phrase
work to stop corruption
To take action to stop or reduce dishonest or illegal behavior, especially by officials or businesses.
Examples
- The organization was created to fight corruption in public institutions.
- Citizens must work together to fight corruption and demand honest leaders.
- International groups are helping the country fight corruption in its courts.
political corruption
1/pəlˈɪtɪkəl kɚˈʌpʃən/
fixed phrase
corruption in government or politics
Dishonest or illegal actions by people in government or political parties, usually for personal gain.
Examples
- Voters are tired of political corruption and broken promises.
- The report exposed years of political corruption at the highest levels of government.
- New laws were passed to reduce political corruption and increase transparency.
root out corruption
1/ɹˈut ˈaʊt kɚˈʌpʃən/
idiom
completely remove corruption
To find where corruption exists and remove it completely from an organization or system.
Examples
- The new mayor promised to root out corruption in city hall.
- It will take years to root out corruption from the police force.
- Strong, independent courts are needed to root out corruption at all levels.
widespread corruption
1/wˈaɪdspɹˈɛd kɚˈʌpʃən/
fixed phrase
corruption in many places
Corruption that happens in many places or involves many people in a country, company, or system.
Examples
- The report found widespread corruption in the health care system.
- Widespread corruption has damaged public trust in the government.
- International investors are worried about widespread corruption in the region.