1dishonest or fraudulent conduct by those in power, typically involving bribery:the journalist who wants to expose corruption in high places
the action or effect of making someone or something morally depraved:the corruption of youth was a powerful motifthe word ‘addict’ conjures up evil and corruption
2the process by which a word or expression is changed from its original state to one regarded as erroneous or debased:a record of a word’s corruption [count noun]:the term ‘hobgoblin’ is thought to be a corruption of ‘Robgoblin’
the process by which a computer database or program becomes debased by alteration or the introduction of errors:this procedure creates a temporary file to prevent accidental corruption
3 archaic the process of decay; putrefaction:the potato turned black and rotten with corruption