rotten
Valid in Scrabble
- Scrabble points
- 6
- Words With Friends
- 7
- Letters
- 6
/ˈɹɒtn̩/
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/ˈɹɒtn̩/ · /ˈɹɑtn̩/ · [ˈɹɑʔn̩]
Definition of rotten
7 senses · 2 parts of speech · etymology included
adj
-
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.”
“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!”
See all 7 definitions Show less
adj
-
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.”
“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!”
-
In a state of decay.
“The floors were damaged and the walls were rotten.”
“His mouth stank and his teeth were rotten.”
“But poore old man, thou prun'ſt a rotten tree, / That cannot ſo much as a bloſſome yeelde”
-
Cruel, mean or immoral.
“That man is a rotten father.”
“This rotten policy will create more injustice in this country.”
“Something is rotten in the State of Denmarke.”
-
Bad or terrible.
“Why is the weather always rotten in this city?”
“It was a rotten idea to take the boat out today.”
“She has the flu and feels rotten.”
-
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.”
- (Australia, Ireland, UK, slang)Very drunk, intoxicated.
adv
-
To an extreme degree.
“That kid is spoilt rotten.”
“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."”
“"You're not only crazy," Oscar said bitterly, "you're rotten jealous. You can go to hell." He stomped away.”
Definitions from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA.
Etymology
From Middle English roten, from Old Norse rotinn (“decayed, rotten”), past participle of an unrecorded verb related to Old Norse rotna (“to rot”) and Old English rotian (“to rot”), ultimately from Proto-Germanic *rutāną (“to rot”). See rot. By surface analysis, rot + -en (past participle).
Words you can make from rotten
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