corrupt

I

(New American Roget's College Thesaurus)

v. t. demoralize, vitiate, deprave, defile, degrade, debase, debauch; bribe, pervert; contaminate, spoil, taint. —adj. wicked, demoralized, immoral, impure, dissolute, depraved, profligate, base; vicious; rotten, infected, tainted, spoiled. See improbity, uncleanness, evil, decomposition, deterioration, wrong. Ant., pure, clean; cleanse, purify.

II

(Roget's IV) modif.

1. [Characterized by graft]

Syn. dishonest, crooked, underhanded, venal, mercenary, fraudulent, unscrupulous, profiteering, extortionate, taking bribes, bribable, unethical, shady*, on the pad*, on the take*, fixed*, bought*, crooked as a dog's hind leg*; see also dishonest 1 , 2 .

2. [Depraved]

Syn. low, debased, evil, nefarious; see wicked 1 .

3. [Inaccurate]

Syn. fallacious, misleading, contaminated, defective; see unreliable 2 , wrong 2 .

v.

1. [To debase]

Syn. pervert, vitiate, degrade, bribe, suborn, adulterate, depreciate, deprave, debauch, defile, demoralize, pollute, taint, contaminate, infect, stain, spoil, ruin, alloy, bastardize, blight, blemish, mark against, undermine, subvert, impair, mar, injure, harm, hurt, damage, deface, disfigure, deform, abuse, mistreat, misuse, dishonor, disgrace, despoil, violate, demean, lower, pull down, reduce, weaken, abase, poison, warp, mislead, misguide, cause to degenerate, cause to deteriorate; see also bribe .

Ant. purify, clean*, restore.

2. [To render inaccurate]

Syn. falsify, misrepresent, misstate, alter, garble, disguise, color, gloss over, varnish, counterfeit, adulterate, contaminate, taint, fabricate, invent, twist, warp, tamper with, doctor, fix*, pad*; see also disguise , forge 1 .

See Synonym Study at debase .

III

(Roget's 3 Superthesaurus)

I

v.

demoralize, pervert, debase, spoil, pollute, taint, abase, adulterate, infect, ruin, defile, degrade, debauch, taint.

II

a.

1. dishonest deceitful, unethical, unprincipled, unscrupulous, crooked, untrustworthy, shady, underhanded, venal, deceptive.

2. immoral depraved, perverted, degenerate, low, evil, rotten, debased, warped, unprincipled.

3. impure contaminated, adulterated, unclean, tainted, defiled, polluted, infected.

ANT.: 1. honest, honorable, scrupulous. 2. moral, virtuous, upright. 3. pure, clean, unaltered

IV

(Roget's Thesaurus II) I adjective 1. Utterly reprehensible in nature or behavior: degenerate, depraved, flagitious, miscreant, perverse, rotten, unhealthy, villainous. See CLEAN, GOOD. 2. Marked by dishonesty, especially in matters of public trust: dishonest, venal. Informal: crooked. See HONEST. 3. Ruthlessly seeking personal advantage: mercenary, praetorian, venal. Informal: crooked. See SELF. II verb 1. To ruin utterly in character or quality: animalize, bastardize, bestialize, brutalize, canker, debase, debauch, demoralize, deprave, pervert, stain, vitiate, warp. See CLEAN, HELP. 2. To make morally impure: contaminate, defile, infect, pollute, soil, taint. See CLEAN.