vicious may directly oppose virtuous in implying moral depravity, or may connote malignancy, cruelty, or destructive violence.
a vicious gangster
villainous applies to any evil, depraved, or vile conduct or characteristic.
a villainous assault
iniquitous implies absence of all signs of justice or fairness.
an iniquitous system of taxation
nefarious suggests flagrant breaching of time-honored laws and traditions of conduct.
the nefarious rackets of organized crime
corrupt stresses a loss of moral integrity or probity causing betrayal of principle or sworn obligations.
city hall was rife with corrupt politicians
degenerate suggests having sunk to an especially vicious or enervated condition.
a degenerate regime propped up by foreign powers
Example Sentences
Verb a politician corrupted by greed music that corrupts the morals of children corrupting the country's legal system the corrupting influence of power Their idealism has been corrupted by cynicism. The file has been corrupted and no longer works properly. a corrupted version of the ancient text Adjective The country's justice system is riddled with corrupt judges who accept bribes. corrupt cops who sell drugs the country's corrupt legal system a corrupt version of the text a corrupt computer file that no longer works properly See More
Recent Examples on the Web
Verb
No American should support election deniers for any position of genuine responsibility where their refusal to follow the rule of law will corrupt our future.NBC News, 21 Aug. 2022 Earlier this week, the House Oversight Committee obtained a cache of documents from the Department of Commerce that show just how far the Trump administration wanted to go to corrupt the census in its favor. Matt Ford, The New Republic, 21 July 2022 Power could fall into your lap at any moment -- but power can corrupt those who aren't careful.Chicago Tribune, 3 Aug. 2022 The hearing will focus on Trump's efforts to corrupt the DOJ, according to Chair Bennie Thompson. Chelsey Cox, USA TODAY, 23 June 2022 Running an advertising campaign encompasses metrics showing how your audience views and responds to your content across various ad networks, including fake traffic, attribution and clicks, with the real versions that corrupt your data. Jacob Loveless, Forbes, 27 June 2022 Its security and decentralization is second to none, meaning its almost impossible to corrupt the network for personal gains. Christiaan Hetzner, Fortune, 22 June 2022 Right-wing conspiracy theories have accused the Jesuits of supporting communism or trying to corrupt the church from within. Joseph P. Laycock, The Conversation, 24 May 2022 The basic dispute was whether contributions to winning candidates to repay personal loans to their campaigns were a form of political speech or a kind of gift with the potential to corrupt.New York Times, 16 May 2022
Adjective
By the end of 2020, after the lockdowns and the election, many conservatives had come to see that system the same way that right-wing extremists did—as corrupt and tyrannical, perhaps even satanic. Luke Mogelson, The New Yorker, 10 Sep. 2022 That brings us to the other fundamental principle of Trump’s legal arguments: that any prosecutor, committee, or judge that investigates or rules against him is biased, illegitimate, and corrupt. Matt Ford, The New Republic, 6 Sep. 2022 The rallies are often attended by thousands of supporters and feature his fiery speeches denouncing Pakistan’s current government as corrupt and a foreign puppet. Susannah George, Washington Post, 25 Aug. 2022 At this point, just assume everyone is corrupt and power-hungry. Aj Willingham, CNN, 21 Aug. 2022 In basic terms, data cleaning remediates flawed or corrupt data within a dataset—which is the primary cause of inaccurate data modeling and ineffective predictions. Yec, Forbes, 18 May 2022 The Renaissance authors of the 14th and 15th centuries, by contrast, had a more difficult relationship with the Catholic Church, which was extremely corrupt at that time. Barton Swaim, WSJ, 19 Aug. 2022 His book is an attempt at redeeming a career wrecked by Robert Mueller’s prosecutors, who portrayed him as one of the most corrupt characters to ever bestride Washington. Franklin Foer, The Atlantic, 16 Aug. 2022 Saied says his actions were constitutional and necessary to save Tunisia from years of political paralysis and economic stagnation at the hands of a corrupt, self-serving elite.CNN, 1 Apr. 2022 See More
Word History
Etymology
Verb
Middle English, from Latin corruptus, past participle of corrumpere, from com- + rumpere to break — more at reave
Adjective
Middle English, from Anglo-French or Latin; Anglo-French, from Latin corruptus — see corruptentry 1