Adjacent Words

Rotten definitions

	Tweet

Webster's 1828 Dictionary

ROTTEN, a. rot'n.
1. Putrid; carious; decomposed by the natural process of decay; as a rotten plank.
2. Not firm or trusty; unsound; defective in principle; treacherous; deceitful.
3. Defective in substance; not sound or hard.
4. Fetid; ill smelling.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

adj
1: very bad; "a lousy play"; "it's a stinking world" [syn: icky, crappy, lousy, rotten, shitty, stinking, stinky]
2: damaged by decay; hence unsound and useless; "rotten floor boards"; "rotted beams"; "a decayed foundation" [syn: decayed, rotten, rotted]
3: having decayed or disintegrated; usually implies foulness; "dead and rotten in his grave"

Merriam Webster's

I. adjective Etymology: Middle English roten, from Old Norse rotinn; akin to Old English rotian to rot Date: 13th century 1. having rotted ; putrid 2. morally corrupt 3. extremely unpleasant or inferior <a rotten day> <a rotten job> 4. very uncomfortable <feeling rotten> 5. of very poor quality ; lousy, abominable <a rotten show> <what rotten luck> • rottenly adverb • rottenness noun II. adverb Date: 1880 to an extreme degree <spoiled rotten>

Oxford Reference Dictionary

adj. (rottener, rottenest) 1 rotting or rotted; falling to pieces or liable to break or tear from age or use. 2 morally, socially, or politically corrupt. 3 sl. a disagreeable, unpleasant (had a rotten time). b (of a plan etc.) ill-advised, unsatisfactory (a rotten idea). c disagreeably ill (feel rotten today). Phrases and idioms: rotten borough hist. (before 1832) an English borough able to elect an MP though having very few voters. rotten-stone decomposed siliceous limestone used as a powder for polishing metals. Derivatives: rottenly adv. rottenness n. Etymology: ME f. ON rotinn, rel. to ROT, RET

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Rotten Rot"ten, a. [Icel. rotinn; akin to Sw. rutten, Dan. radden. See Rot.] Having rotted; putrid; decayed; as, a rotten apple; rotten meat. Hence: (a) Offensive to the smell; fetid; disgusting. You common cry of curs! whose breath I hate As reek of the rotten fens. --Shak. (b) Not firm or trusty; unsound; defective; treacherous; unsafe; as, a rotten plank, bone, stone. ``The deepness of the rotten way.'' --Knolles. Rotten borough. See under Borough. Rotten stone (Min.), a soft stone, called also Tripoli (from the country from which it was formerly brought), used in all sorts of finer grinding and polishing in the arts, and for cleaning metallic substances. The name is also given to other friable siliceous stones applied to like uses. Syn: Putrefied; decayed; carious; defective; unsound; corrupt; deceitful; treacherous. -- Rot"ten*ly, adv. -- Rot"ten*ness, n.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

1. If food, wood, or another substance is rotten, it has decayed and can no longer be used. The smell outside this building is overwhelming–like rotten eggs... ADJ 2. If you describe something as rotten, you think it is very unpleasant or of very poor quality. (INFORMAL) I personally think it's a rotten idea... ? great ADJ: usu ADJ n 3. If you describe someone as rotten, you are insulting them or criticizing them because you think that they are very unpleasant or unkind. (INFORMAL) You rotten swine! How dare you?... ? nice ADJ: usu ADJ n [disapproval] 4. If you feel rotten, you feel bad, either because you are ill or because you are sorry about something. (INFORMAL) I had glandular fever and spent that year feeling rotten... = awful ADJ: usu v-link ADJ

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

a. 1. Putrid, corrupt, carious, decomposed, putrefied, decaying, decayed, fetid, putrescent, foul. 2. Unsound, defective. 3. Treacherous, deceitful, untrustworthy, corrupt, unsound. 4. Fetid, ill-smelling, rank.

Moby Thesaurus

abandoned, abominable, amiss, amoral, appalling, arrant, atrocious, awful, bad, bad-smelling, baneful, barfy, base, beastly, beneath contempt, bent, blameworthy, brackish, brutal, bum, cankered, carious, cloying, conscienceless, contaminated, contemptible, corroded, corrupt, corrupted, crappy, criminal, crooked, crumbling, crumbly, dark, debased, debauched, decadent, decayed, deceitful, decomposed, decomposing, decrepit, degenerate, degraded, deplorable, depraved, despicable, deteriorating, detestable, devious, dire, disagreeable, disgusting, dishonest, dishonorable, disintegrating, displeasing, dissatisfactory, dissolute, doubtful, dreadful, dubious, egregious, enormous, evasive, evil, fecal, feculent, felonious, festering, fetid, filthy, fishy, flagitious, flagrant, flyblown, foul, fraudulent, friable, frowsty, frowy, frowzy, fulsome, funky, fusty, gamy, gangrened, gangrenous, gloppy, gone bad, graveolent, grievous, grim, gross, gunky, hateful, heinous, hideous, high, horrendous, horrible, horrid, horrific, horrifying, icky, ill, ill-got, ill-gotten, ill-smelling, immoral, indirect, infamous, infirm, iniquitous, insidious, lamentable, loathsome, lousy, low, low-down, maggoty, malodorous, mawkish, mean, mephitic, miasmal, miasmic, mildewed, mildewy, miserable, moldy, monstrous, morally polluted, mortified, mouldy, mucky, musty, nasty, nauseant, nauseated, nauseating, nauseous, necrosed, necrotic, nefarious, nidorous, noisome, not kosher, notorious, noxious, obnoxious, odious, odorous, off, offensive, olid, ordurous, outrageous, overripe, peccant, perverse, perverted, pitiable, pitiful, poisonous, polluted, poor, poorish, profligate, puky, punk, putrefied, putrescent, putrid, questionable, rancid, rank, reasty, reasy, rebarbative, reechy, reeking, reeky, regrettable, reprehensible, reprobate, repulsive, ropy, rotten at, rotting, rough, sad, scabby, scandalous, schlock, scummy, scurfy, scurvy, shabby, shady, shameful, shameless, shifty, shitty, shocking, shoddy, sick, sickening, sinister, slabby, slimy, slippery, sloppy, sloshy, sludgy, slushy, smellful, smelling, smelly, sordid, sour, soured, sphacelated, spoiled, spoilt, sposhy, squalid, stale, steeped in iniquity, stenchy, stinking, strong, stuffy, sulfurous, suppurating, suppurative, suspicious, tainted, terrible, too bad, touched, tragic, tricky, turned, ulcerated, unclean, unconscienced, unconscientious, unconscionable, underhand, underhanded, unethical, unfirm, unhappy, unhealthy, unpleasant, unprincipled, unsatisfactory, unsavory, unscrupulous, unsolid, unsound, unspeakable, unstable, unstraightforward, unsturdy, unsubstantial, unwell, up, venal, vice-corrupted, vile, villainous, vitiated, vomity, warped, weevily, wicked, without remorse, without shame, woeful, wormy, worst, worthless, wretched, wrong, yecchy, yucky