corruption

plural corruptions

1. countableuncountableThe act of corrupting or of impairing integrity, virtue, or moral principle; the state of being corrupted or debased; loss of purity or integrity.

   They abstained from some of the worst methods of corruption usual to their party in its earlier days.

   1834–1874, George Bancroft, History of the United States, from the Discovery of the American Continent, volume (please specify |volume=I to X), Boston, Mass.: Little, Brown and Company [et al.], →OCLC

   3 more examples

   It was necessary, by exposing the gross corruptions of monasteries, […] to exite popular indignation against them.

   1827, Henry Hallam, The Constitutional History of England from the Accession of Henry VII. to the Death of George II. […], volume (please specify |volume=I or II), London: John Murray, […], →OCLC

   But electric vehicles and the batteries that made them run became ensnared in corporate scandals, fraud, and monopolistic corruption that shook the confidence of the nation and inspired automotive upstarts.

   2006, Edwin Black, chapter 1, in Internal Combustion

   WikiLeaks did not cause these uprisings but it certainly informed them. The dispatches revealed details of corruption and kleptocracy that many Tunisians suspected, but could not prove, and would cite as they took to the streets.

   2013 June 7, Gary Younge, “Hypocrisy lies at heart of Manning prosecution”, in The Guardian Weekly, volume 188, number 26, page 18

   Synonyms: depravity, wickedness, impurity, bribery, debasement, depravity, evil, impurity

2. countableuncountableThe act of corrupting or making putrid, or state of being corrupt or putrid; decomposition or disorganization, in the process of putrefaction; putrefaction; deterioration.

   The inducing and accelerating of putrefaction is a subject of very universal inquiry; for corruption is a reciprocal to generation.

   1627 (indicated as 1626), Francis [Bacon], “(please specify the page, or |century=I to X)”, in Sylua Syluarum: Or A Naturall Historie. In Ten Centuries. […], London: […] William Rawley […]; [p]rinted by J[ohn] H[aviland] for William Lee […], →OCLC

   Synonyms: adulteration, contamination, debasement, defilement, dirtying, soiling, tainting, graft

3. countableuncountableThe product of corruption; putrid matter.

   1 more example

   Think of wandering amid sepulchral ruins, of stumbling over the bones of the dead, of encountering what I cannot describe,—the horror of being among those who are neither the living or the dead;—those dark and shadowless things that sport themselves with the reliques of the dead, and feast and love amid corruption,—ghastly, mocking, and terrific.

   1820, [Charles Robert Maturin], Melmoth the Wanderer: A Tale. […], volume II, Edinburgh: […] Archibald Constable and Company, and Hurst, Robinson, and Co., […], →OCLC, page 154

   Synonyms: decay, putrescence, rot

4. countableuncountableThe decomposition of biological matter.
5. countableuncountableUnethical administrative or executive practices (in government or business), including bribery (offering or receiving bribes), conflicts of interest, nepotism, embezzlement, and so on.

   Synonyms: venality

6. countableuncountablecomputingThe destruction of data by manipulation of parts of it, either by deliberate or accidental human action or by imperfections in storage or transmission media.

   1 more example

   The idea of having a time lag is to allow for situations when a corruption of some type affects the source server. If a corruption occurs, you do not want it to replicate to the copy of the database, so the time lag gives administrators the opportunity to recognize that a problem exists and then to have the ability to switch from the database copy if the corruption is so bad that it renders the original database unusable.

   2008, Tony Redmond, Microsoft Exchange Server 2007 with SP1

7. countableuncountableThe act of changing, or of being changed, for the worse; departure from what is pure, simple, or correct.

   a corruption of style

   1 more example

   corruption of innocence

   Synonyms: deterioration, worsening, aggravation, debasement, degeneration, degradation, deterioration, devolution

8. countableuncountableA nonstandard form of a word, expression, or text, especially when resulting from misunderstanding, transcription error, or mishearing. (See a usage note about this sense.)

   The estate is called Carfax, no doubt a corruption of the old Quatre Face, as the house is four-sided, agreeing with the cardinal points of the compass.

   1897, Bram Stoker, chapter I, in Dracula, New York: Grosset & Dunlap

   2 more examples

   The affix ty, like té, Fr., ta, It., dad, Sp., is a corruption of the Latin affix tas, tat, and Greek tes; as bounty, bonté, Fr., bonta, It., bondad, Sp., bonitas from bonus, good; vanity, vanité, Fr., vanita, It., vanidad, Sp, vanitas from vanus, vain.

   1839 [1829], “Grammar”, in The London Encyclopædia, or, Universal Dictionary of Science, Art, Literature and Practical Mechanics, Including an English Lexicon, on the Basis of Dr. Johnson's Larger Dictionary; by the Original Editor of the Encyclopædia Metropolitana, Assisted by Eminent Professional and Other Gentlemen, volume 19, London, England: Thomas Tegg, page 355

   Even though the longer ending of Mark is itself secondary, its wording was no more immune to corruption than any other portion of the New Testament text (as scribes would normally not know they were corrupting a corruption).

   1996, Bart D. Ehrman, The Orthodox Corruption of Scripture

   Synonyms: bastardization

9. countableuncountableSomething originally good or pure that has turned evil or impure; a perversion.

   They admitted that there were corruptions in the Church of Scotland, but denied that these corruptions were such as to render a separation from her necessary.

   1841, John McKerrow, History of the Secession church, page 143

   4 more examples

   God creates and produces them, but it is according to the Laws of this Species of Beings who were made to propagate one another, so that in this Production earthly Parents are the Instruments. And how far they may be the Instruments in conveying a Corruption or Pravity, is what we cannot distinctly explain; but to make this alone a Rason for denying it, would argue great Rashness and want of Reflection.

   1740, John Leland, An Answer to a Book Intituled, Christianity as Old as the Creation

   Far be it from me, however, to attribute the success to my exertions: I know very well that the whole success depends on the corruption and weakness of that system which I attack; for all that is requisite in this siege, is to tell the truth: let the truth be told, without concealment, and without fear of giving offence, and against such warfare the Church of England has no sort of chance: her corruptions and her abuses are so monstrous, that they need be only shewn to he hated; the only difficulty is to find persons who have the courage to withdraw the veil from the abominations that stand in the holy place.

   1831, Robert Mackenzie Beverley, The Tombs of the Prophets, page iii

   Let not lazy Christians ever think they shall be more than conquerors, while they use only drowsy and yawning desires, and wish that such a lust were weakened, that such a corruption were mortified and subdued, but never rouse up their graces against them.

   1855, Ezekiel Hopkins, The Works of the Right Reverend Ezekiel Hopkins

   We believe a corruption has started, we have feared this day for many years; ever since we got reports that a dark cult containing a small amount of members had been praying to the underworld god Volkin, and that they were never caught.

   2012, Shaun Robinson, A Knights Realm: Forsaken Rise, page 14