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rotten
5 dictionary results for: rotten
Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1) - Cite This Source - Share This
rot·ten       [rot-n] Pronunciation Key
–adjective, -er, -est.
1.decomposing or decaying; putrid; tainted, foul, or bad-smelling.
2.corrupt or morally offensive.
3.wretchedly bad, unpleasant, or unsatisfactory; miserable: a rotten piece of work; a rotten day at the office.
4.contemptible; despicable: a rotten little liar; a rotten trick.
5.(of soil, rocks, etc.) soft, yielding, or friable as the result of decomposition.
6.Australian Slang. drunk.

[Origin: 1175–1225; ME roten < ON rotinn, ptp. of an unrecorded verb meaning “to rot”]

rot·ten·ly, adverb
rot·ten·ness, noun

1. fetid, rank. 2. immoral. 4. disgusting, unwholesome; treacherous.
1. sound. 2. moral.
American Heritage Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This
rot·ten       (rŏt'n)  Pronunciation Key 
adj.   rot·ten·er, rot·ten·est
  1. Being in a state of putrefaction or decay; decomposed.
  2. Having a foul odor resulting from or suggestive of decay; putrid.
  3. Made weak or unsound by rot: rotten floorboards.
  4. Morally corrupt or despicable: She's rotten to the core.
  5. Very bad; wretched: rotten weather.

adv.   To a very great degree: The child is spoiled rotten.


[Middle English roten, from Old Norse rotinn.]

rot'ten·ly adv., rot'ten·ness n.
Online Etymology Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This
rotten 
c.1225, from O.N. rotinn "decayed," pp. of verb related to rotna "to decay," from P.Gmc. stem *rut- (see rot). Sense of "corrupt" is from c.1380; weakened sense of "bad" first recorded 1881. Rotter "objectionable person" is recorded from 1894. Rotten apple is from a saying traced back to at least 1528: For one rotten apple lytell and lytell putrifieth an whole heape.

WordNet - Cite This Source - Share This
rotten

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

Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

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.

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