rotten

comparative rottener · comparative more rotten · superlative rottenest · superlative most rotten

1. Of perishable items, overridden with bacteria and other infectious agents.

   If you leave a bin unattended for a few weeks, the rubbish inside will turn rotten.

   1 more example

   Antonio: Mark you this, Bassanio, / The devil can cite Scripture for his purpose. / An evil soul producing holy witness / Is like a villain with a smiling cheek, / A goodly apple rotten at the heart. / O, what a goodly outside falsehood hath!

   c. 1596–1598 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Merchant of Venice”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene iii]

   Synonyms: gone bad, maggoted, spoiled

2. In a state of decay.

   His mouth stank and his teeth were rotten.

   2 more examples

   The floors were damaged and the walls were rotten.

   But poore old man, thou prun'ſt a rotten tree, / That cannot ſo much as a bloſſome yeelde

   c. 1598–1600 (date written), William Shakespeare, “As You Like It”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene iii], page 191

   Synonyms: blighted, forworn, putrid, blighted, cankered, decayed, dotterel, forworn

3. Cruel, mean or immoral.

   That man is a rotten father.

   2 more examples

   This rotten policy will create more injustice in this country.

   Something is rotten in the State of Denmarke.

   c. 1599–1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Hamlet, Prince of Denmarke”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene iv], page 257, column 2

   Synonyms: fell, malicious, ruthless, barbarous, bowelless, brutal, compassionless, cruel

4. Bad or terrible.

   She has the flu and feels rotten.

   2 more examples

   Why is the weather always rotten in this city?

   It was a rotten idea to take the boat out today.

   Synonyms: awful, foul, horrible, abysmal, atrocious, awful, bad, chronic

5. Of stone or rock, crumbling or friable; in a loose or disintegrated state.

   The quartz specimens were sometimes blue, hard-looking stone, or rotten quartz largely impregnated with iron, in both cases carrying bright glittering nodules of gold.

   1887, Harriet W. Daly, Digging, Squatting, and Pioneering Life in the Northern Territory of South Australia, page 215

   Synonyms: crumbly, crumblesome, frickle

6. AustraliaIrelandUKslangVery drunk, intoxicated.

   Synonyms: munted, para, peloothered, Adrian Quist, adrip, aled up, all mops and brooms, arseholed

comparative more rotten · superlative most rotten

1. To an extreme degree.

   That kid is spoilt rotten.

   3 more examples

   The girls fancy him something rotten.

   "It's old man Challenger's show and we are here by his good will, so it would be rotten bad form if we didn't follow his instructions to the letter."

   1912, Arthur Conan Doyle, The Lost World […], London; New York, N.Y.: Hodder and Stoughton, →OCLC

   "You're not only crazy," Oscar said bitterly, "you're rotten jealous. You can go to hell." He stomped away.

   1958 May, Avram Davidson, “Or All The Seas With Oysters”, in Galaxy Science Fiction, page 53