Need another word that means the same as “rotten”? Find 99 synonyms and 30 related words for “rotten” in this overview.
The synonyms of “Rotten” are: decayed, rotted, crappy, icky, lousy, shitty, stinking, stinky, decaying, bad, off, decomposing, putrid, putrescent, spoiled, spoilt, tainted, mouldy, mouldering, mildewy, sour, rancid, rank, festering, fetid, smelly, unfit for human consumption, crumbling, falling to pieces, carious, black, corrupt, unprincipled, dishonest, dishonourable, unscrupulous, untrustworthy, immoral, villainous, wicked, evil, sinful, iniquitous, vicious, base, amoral, debauched, degenerate, dissolute, dissipated, depraved, perverted, wanton, nasty, unkind, unpleasant, foul, obnoxious, vile, contemptible, despicable, wretched, shabby, poor, dreadful, awful, terrible, frightful, atrocious, hopeless, inadequate, inferior, unsatisfactory, laughable, substandard, horrible, unspeakable, disagreeable, miserable, grim, horrid, ghastly, ill, unwell, poorly, out of sorts, indisposed, sick, queasy, nauseous, nauseated, peaky, liverish, green around the gills, faint, dizzy, giddy, light-headed, very much
According to the Oxford Dictionary of English, “rotten” as an adjective can have the following definitions:
| amoral | Lacking a moral sense; unconcerned with the rightness or wrongness of something. An amoral attitude to sex. |
| atrocious | Exceptionally bad or displeasing. Atrocious weather. |
| awful | Very bad or unpleasant. The place smelled awful. |
| bad | Feeling physical discomfort or pain tough is occasionally used colloquially for bad. Morning was a bad time to ask Andy about anything. |
| base | Of low birth or station base is archaic in this sense. That liberal obedience without which your army would be a base rabble. |
| black | Of the face made black especially as with suffused blood. Her long black hair. |
| carious | (of bones or teeth) decayed. |
| contemptible | Deserving of contempt or scorn. A display of contemptible cowardice. |
| corrupt | Evil or morally depraved. A corrupt text. |
| crumbling | Breaking or falling apart into small fragments, especially as part of a process of deterioration. A crumbling empire. |
| debauched | Unrestrained by convention or morality. Congreve draws a debauched aristocratic society. |
| decayed | Having rotted or decomposed. Decayed animal and plant matter. |
| decaying | Declining in quality, power, or vigour. A decaying industry. |
| decomposing | (of organic matter) in the process of decaying. Decomposing fungi. |
| degenerate | Lacking some usual or expected property or quality. A degenerate form of a higher civilization. |
| depraved | Morally corrupt; wicked. This city is depraved. |
| despicable | Morally reprehensible. Would do something as despicable as murder. |
| disagreeable | Not agreeing with your tastes or expectations. Henry was always a very disagreeable boy. |
| dishonest | Intended to mislead or cheat. Dishonest politicians. |
| dishonourable | Bringing shame or disgrace on someone or something. His crimes are petty and dishonourable. |
| dissipated | Preoccupied with the pursuit of pleasure and especially games of chance. Dissipated behaviour. |
| dissolute | Unrestrained by convention or morality. Unfortunately his heir was feckless and dissolute. |
| dizzy | Silly or scatterbrained (typically used of a woman. A dizzy range of hues. |
| dreadful | Exceptionally bad or displeasing. You re a dreadful flirt. |
| evil | Of a force or spirit embodying or associated with the forces of the devil. Stories about the evil effects of television on children make good copy. |
| faint | (of a sight, smell, or sound) barely perceptible. A faint outline. |
| falling to pieces | Decreasing in amount or degree. |
| festering | (of a negative feeling or a problem) becoming worse or more intense, especially through long-term neglect or indifference. A festering political crisis. |
| fetid | Smelling extremely unpleasant. The fetid water of the marsh. |
| foul | Not hit between the foul lines. A foul pond. |
| frightful | Very unpleasant, serious, or shocking. A frightful crime of decapitation. |
| ghastly | Causing great horror or fear. A ghastly pallor. |
| giddy | Excitable and frivolous. A giddy precipice. |
| green around the gills | Of the color between blue and yellow in the color spectrum; similar to the color of fresh grass. |
| grim | Harshly ironic or sinister. A grim man loving duty more than humanity. |
| hopeless | Certain to fail. I m hopeless at names. |
| horrible | Provoking horror- Winston Churchill. A horrible massacre. |
| horrid | Exceedingly bad. A horrid brown colour. |
| icky | Soft and sticky. A romantic subplot that is just plain icky. |
| ill | Presaging ill fortune. Of ill repute. |
| immoral | Deliberately violating accepted principles of right and wrong. They considered colonialism immoral. |
| inadequate | Of insufficient quantity to meet a need. An inadequate income. |
| indisposed | Averse; unwilling. Clearly indisposed to grant their request. |
| inferior | Of low or inferior quality. Inferior alveolar artery. |
| iniquitous | Grossly unfair and morally wrong. These awards remain an iniquitous system. |
| laughable | Incongruous;inviting ridicule. If it didn t make me so angry it would be laughable. |
| light-headed | Lacking seriousness; given to frivolity. |
| liverish | Slightly ill, as though having a disordered liver. A liverish red. |
| lousy | Unwell. The town is lousy with tourists. |
| mildewy | Affected by mildew; mouldy. The first room had a mildewy smell to it. |
| miserable | Causing unhappiness or discomfort. All they pay me is a miserable 8 000 a year. |
| mouldering | Slowly decaying or disintegrating, especially because of neglect. The smell of mouldering books. |
| mouldy | Covered with or smelling of mold. Mouldy conventions. |
| nasty | Disgustingly dirty; filled or smeared with offensive matter. Harry was a nasty foul mouthed old devil. |
| nauseated | Feeling nausea; feeling about to vomit. |
| nauseous | Disgusting or offensive. A rancid odour that made him nauseous. |
| obnoxious | Extremely unpleasant. Obnoxious odours. |
| off | Located on the side of a vehicle that is normally furthest from the kerb offside. The wedding is definitely off. |
| out of sorts | Out of power; especially having been unsuccessful in an election. |
| peaky | Having or as if having especially high-pitched spots. Absence of peaky highs and beefed up bass. |
| perverted | (used of sexual behavior) showing or appealing to bizarre or deviant tastes. A perverted translation of the poem. |
| poor | Lacking sufficient money to live at a standard considered comfortable or normal in a society. The water is poor in nutrients. |
| poorly | Unwell. She looked poorly. |
| putrescent | Becoming putrid. The odour of putrescent flesh. |
| putrid | Morally corrupt or evil. The cocktail is a putrid pink colour. |
| queasy | Causing or able to cause nausea. The queasy swell of the boat. |
| rancid | Smelling of fermentation or staleness. Rancid bacon. |
| rank | Very offensive in smell or taste. A rank outsider. |
| rotted | Damaged by decay; hence unsound and useless. Rotted beams. |
| shabby | Mean and unworthy and despicable. A conscript in a shabby uniform saluted the car. |
| sick | Affected with madness or insanity. He looked pretty sick at that but he eventually agreed. |
| sinful | Highly reprehensible. A sinful person. |
| smelly | Offensively malodorous. Smelly feet. |
| sour | (of petroleum or natural gas) containing a relatively high proportion of sulphur. Sour milk. |
| spoiled | (of a person, especially a child) harmed in character by being treated too leniently or indulgently. The smell of spoiled milk. |
| spoilt | Affected by blight; anything that mars or prevents growth or prosperity. A refrigerator full of spoilt food. |
| stinking | Foul-smelling. He was locked in a stinking cell. |
| stinky | Having a strong or unpleasant smell. He went to his stinky job year after year. |
| substandard | Falling short of some prescribed norm. Substandard spellings. |
| tainted | Touched by rot or decay. Tainted bacon. |
| terrible | Very unskilful. I was sick all night and felt terrible for two days. |
| unfit for human consumption | Physically unsound or diseased. |
| unkind | Deficient in humane and kindly feelings. The unkindest cut of all. |
| unpleasant | Causing discomfort, unhappiness, or revulsion; disagreeable. When drunk he could become very unpleasant. |
| unprincipled | (of a person or their behaviour) not acting in accordance with moral principles. Freedom from coarse unprincipled calumny. |
| unsatisfactory | Not giving satisfaction. Years of living in unsatisfactory rented accommodation. |
| unscrupulous | Without scruples or principles. Unscrupulous landlords might be tempted to harass existing tenants. |
| unspeakable | Exceptionally bad or displeasing. Unspeakable happiness. |
| untrustworthy | Not worthy of trust or belief. These untrustworthy impressions were instinctive. |
| unwell | Ill. He was admitted to hospital for tests after feeling unwell. |
| vicious | (of persons or their actions) able or disposed to inflict pain or suffering. Vicious kicks. |
| vile | Extremely unpleasant. All the feasts that thou hast shared erewhile to mine shall be but vile. |
| villainous | Extremely wicked. A villainous plot. |
| wanton | Casual and unrestrained in sexual behavior. Wanton behavior. |
| wicked | Morally bad in principle or practice. A wicked stench. |
| wretched | Morally reprehensible. She disliked the wretched man intensely. |
According to the Oxford Dictionary of English, “rotten” as an adverb can have the following definitions:
| very much | Precisely so. |
| corrosive | A corrosive substance. Corrosive cristism. |
| corrupt | Corrupt morally or by intemperance or sensuality. He has corrupted the boy. |
| debris | Scattered pieces of rubbish or remains. Workmen were clearing the roads of the debris from shattered buildings. |
| decay | Undergo decay or decomposition. The trapped radiocarbon begins to decay at a known rate. |
| decayed | Having fallen into disrepair; deteriorated. The restoration of decayed churches. |
| decompose | Separate (substances) into constituent elements or parts. Many chemicals decompose rapidly under high temperature. |
| decomposition | The organic phenomenon of rotting. The decomposition of organic waste. |
| depravity | The innate corruption of human nature, due to original sin. A tale of depravity hard to credit. |
| disassemble | Take (something) to pieces. The piston can be disassembled for transport. |
| disenfranchise | Deprive of voting rights. A hard core of kids who are disenfranchised and don t feel connected to the school. |
| erosive | Wearing away by friction. The erosive effects of waves on the shoreline. |
| fetid | Smelling extremely unpleasant. The fetid water of the marsh. |
| foul | Commit a foul break the rules. With its sails afoul. |
| lousy | Very bad. A lousy play. |
| malodorous | Having an unpleasant smell. Leaking taps and malodorous drains. |
| molder | Break down. |
| musty | Lacking freshness or vitality; old-fashioned. A dark musty library. |
| noisome | Causing or able to cause nausea. Even if a journalist wanted to deliver the noisome truth patriotism and censorship would prevent him. |
| perishable | Liable to perish; subject to destruction or death or decay. Ballet is the most perishable of arts. |
| putrescent | Becoming putrid. The odour of putrescent flesh. |
| putrid | (of organic matter) decaying or rotting and emitting a fetid smell. The putrid smells from the slaughterhouses. |
| queasy | Nauseous; feeling sick. In the morning he was still pale and queasy. |
| rancid | Smelling of fermentation or staleness. His columns are just rationales for every kind of rancid prejudice. |
| rot | Rotten or decayed matter. It was when they moved back to the family home that the rot set in. |
| sickening | Causing great annoyance or disappointment. A sickening stench. |
| smell | Smell bad. Lingering kitchen smells. |
| stale | Make or become stale. Justifications for adverse possession go beyond stale claims. |
| stinking | Very bad. He was locked in a stinking cell. |
| underhand | With hand brought forward and up from below shoulder level. Mean revenge committed underhand. |
| venal | Capable of being corrupted. Their generosity had been at least partly venal. |
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