Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English homepage

Date: 1200-1300
Language: Old Norse
Origin: rotinn

rotten

1 adjective
     
rot‧ten1
1 badly decayed and no longer good to use:
the smell of rotten eggs
Some of the wood was completely rotten.
The apples went rotten very quickly.
2 informal very bad [= terrible]:
a rotten idea
The service was rotten.
He's a rotten driver.
3 informal if someone is rotten, they are unpleasant, unkind, or dishonest:
Why are you being so rotten?
4

feel rotten

a) to feel ill
b) to feel unhappy and guilty about something:
I felt rotten about lying to him.
5 [only before noun] spoken used when you are angry:
I don't want your rotten money!
6

rotten to the core

extremely dishonest:
The whole government is rotten to the core.
7

a rotten apple

one bad person who has a bad effect on all the others in a group
—rottenness noun [uncountable]
Definition from the Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
Advanced Learner's Dictionary.
 
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