ROTTEN


Meaning of ROTTEN in English

I. ˈrät ə n adjective

( -er/-est )

Etymology: Middle English roten, from Old Norse rotinn; akin to Old English rotian to rot — more at rot

1.

a. : having rotted : decayed, putrid

people who are dead and rotten in their graves — Mary Deasy

a rotten tomato

a little paint on a rotten house — Eric Linklater

some granites are exceedingly rotten — K.A.Henderson

rotten ice

b. obsolete : characterized by rot

the rotten diseases of the South — Shakespeare

2.

a. : morally corrupt

people … have become aware of something rotten in our democracy — Garrett Mattingly

his heart … went rotten with vanity — Maurice Cranston

b. : very badly behaved : spoiled

a rotten child

3.

a. of a sheep : affected with rot

b. : causing or characteristic of rot in sheep

4. : extremely unpleasant : disagreeable

a rotten day

a rotten humor

soldiering is a rotten job — J.O.Hannay

it's rotten waiting for things — John Galsworthy

5. : marked by weakness or unsoundness

a commando group whose special operations are canceled one after another until the group goes rotten — Curtis Bradford

6. : very uncomfortable (as from sickness or low spirits)

caught a cold and felt rotten

was looking rotten

7. : marked by extremely poor quality : abominable

a rotten book

paid $50 for rotten seats — Barnaby Conrad

rotten luck

a rotten failure

• rot·ten·ly - ə nlē, -li adverb

• rot·ten·ness - ə n(n)ə̇s noun -es

II. verb

( -ed/-ing/-s )

chiefly dialect : rot

Webster's New International English Dictionary.      Новый международный словарь английского языка Webster.