rotten

rotten — adjective

1. describes food, wood, or other organic matter that has broken down and is no lon

1.adjectiveA2
Definition

describes food, wood, or other organic matter that has broken down and is no longer in good condition — for example, a piece of fruit that is soft, discoloured, and smells bad, or a fence post that has crumbled from moisture and age.

Example

Noor found a rotten apple at the bottom of the fruit bowl.

rotten + noun describing decayed food

The wooden fence had a rotten post that needed replacing.

rotten + noun describing decayed building material

Common collocations
  • rotten apple
  • rotten egg
  • rotten wood
  • go rotten
  • turn rotten
  • rotten tooth
Synonyms
  • decayed

    more formal and general; describes any stage of decomposition

  • decomposed

    more technical, used in scientific contexts

  • putrid

    stronger, emphasises the foul smell of advanced decay

  • mouldy

    specifically describes food covered in fungus, not necessarily decayed throughout

Antonyms
  • fresh

    for food that is recently picked or prepared

  • sound

    for wood or structures in good condition

Grammar Patterns

rotten + noun

be/get/go/turn + rotten

Usage Note

Attributive use (a rotten apple) is more common than predicative (the apple is rotten), though both are correct. Go rotten and turn rotten describe the process of decaying.

Common Mistakes

I bought a rotten milk from the store
I bought rotten milk from the store' or 'The milk has gone rotten.
rotten describes the state of the milk, not a type of milk.

2. extremely poor in quality or very unpleasant — used to describe experiences, wea

2.adjectiveB1
Definition

extremely poor in quality or very unpleasant — used to describe experiences, weather, behaviour, or the general state of things when they fall far below what is acceptable.

Example

Mira said the film was so rotten that she walked out after twenty minutes.

be + rotten describing poor quality

The hotel charged a lot for rotten service and a dirty room.

Common collocations
  • rotten day
  • rotten weather
  • rotten service
  • rotten luck
  • rotten idea
  • rotten thing to do
Synonyms
  • terrible

    similar intensity, more common in both formal and informal contexts

  • awful

    equally informal and common; slightly less vivid than rotten

  • lousy

    informal, similar register, emphasises low quality

  • dreadful

    slightly more formal, similar level of intensity

Antonyms

Grammar Patterns

rotten + noun

be + rotten

it is/was rotten of + person + to-infinitive

Usage Note

Stronger and more colourful than bad, but less intense than terrible. Common in informal conversation rather than formal writing. The pattern 'it was rotten of you/him/her to…' is used to criticise someone's behaviour.

Common Mistakes

The food in that restaurant is rotten' (meaning the taste is bad).
The food in that restaurant is really bad/tasteless.
rotten for food quality is ambiguous; it usually means the food has decayed, not that it tastes bad.

3. physically unwell, often with a queasy, feverish, or generally weak feeling — us

3.adjectiveB1
Definition

physically unwell, often with a queasy, feverish, or generally weak feeling — used when someone does not feel healthy enough to do their normal activities.

Example

Ada ate too much cake at the party and felt rotten afterwards.

feel + rotten after overindulging

Justin has been feeling rotten all morning with a sore throat.

Common collocations
  • feel rotten
  • look rotten
  • begin to feel rotten
  • still feel rotten
Synonyms
  • ill

    more formal and general; covers all types of sickness

  • sick

    common in American English; can also mean nauseous

  • unwell

    more polite and formal

  • terrible

    informal, similar register — 'I feel terrible'

Antonyms
  • well

    in good health

  • fine

    feeling healthy and normal

Grammar Patterns

feel + rotten

look + rotten

Usage Note

Predicative only — you cannot say a rotten person to mean someone who is ill. The subject is always a person or animal. Distinguish from sense 2 (VERY BAD): 'I feel rotten' means unwell, whereas 'I feel rotten about it' (not covered here) means guilty.

Common Mistakes

She is a rotten person today' (meaning she feels ill).
She feels rotten today.
rotten is only used predicatively (after feel/look) for illness, never attributively before a noun.
Idioms

a bad/rotten apple

idiom

A person whose negative behavior influences the whole group badly.

Maya is the rotten apple who makes everyone in the team argue.

Did Diego turn out to be the bad apple in the project group?

rotten — adverb

Word family

  • rot
    verbB1
  • rot
    nounB2
  • rotting
    adjectiveB2
  • rotted
    adjectiveB2
  • rottenness
    nounC1
  • rottenly
    adverbC1

Synonym discussion

Sense: adjective/2

All five words describe something of very poor quality or an unpleasant experience, but they differ in register and connotation. Rotten is the most informal and vivid, carrying a secondary suggestion of decay or corruption — calling a film rotten is more colourful than calling it terrible. Terrible is the most neutral and widely used across registers, from casual speech to formal writing. Awful is equally informal but slightly milder. Lousy is strongly informal and suggests deficiency rather than unpleasantness (a lousy salary vs. a terrible accident). Dreadful leans British and is somewhat old-fashioned in American English. For example: 'The service was rotten' (personal, offended tone) vs. 'The service was terrible' (factual, widely understood) vs. 'The pay was lousy' (disappointed, about insufficient amount).

terrible ↗awful ↗lousydreadful ↗

Common collocations

Phrases

  • go rotten
  • turn rotten

Etymology

Proto-GermanicOld EnglishMiddle EnglishEnglish

Rotten comes from Old English rotian, meaning 'to decay.' The word has Germanic roots and is related to Dutch rotten and German verrotten 'to rot.' The literal sense of decayed organic matter was the original meaning. By the 1300s, the word had already taken on a figurative meaning of morally corrupt or worthless. The informal intensifier use (as in 'rotten rich') developed in British colloquial speech during the 1800s, where rotten intensified already-strong adjectives.