Rotten Meaning
/ˈɹɒtn̩/Definition, CEFR level B2, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
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Definition
adjOf perishable items, overridden with bacteria and other infectious agents.
adjIn a state of decay.
Sentence Examples
I smell something rotten.
Half of the apples are rotten.
Quite a lot of rotten apples were in the basket.
CEFR Practice Quiz
The old fruit became ____ and full of mold after being left in the sun.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The inspector found ____ timber beneath the floorboards that needed immediate replacement.
Word Origin & History
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).
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"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!"
— c. 1596–1598 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Merchant of Venice”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene iii]:
"But poore old man, thou prun'ſt a rotten tree, / That cannot ſo much as a bloſſome yeelde"
— c. 1598–1600 (date written), William Shakespeare, “As You Like It”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene iii], page 191:
"Something is rotten in the State of Denmarke."
— c. 1599–1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Hamlet, Prince of Denmarke”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene iv], page 257, column 2:
"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."
— 1887, Harriet W. Daly, Digging, Squatting, and Pioneering Life in the Northern Territory of South Australia, page 215:
""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.""
— 1912, Arthur Conan Doyle, The Lost World […], London; New York, N.Y.: Hodder and Stoughton, →OCLC:
Explore More B2 Vocabulary Words
CEFR Practice Quiz
The old fruit became ____ and full of mold after being left in the sun.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The inspector found ____ timber beneath the floorboards that needed immediate replacement.