Meaning

8 senses
  1. (intransitive)To suffer decomposition due to biological action, especially by fungi or bacteria.

    The apple left in the cupboard all that time had started to rot.

    verrotten, verderben, faulen

    гнитьgnitʹ, сгнитьsgnitʹ, разлага́тьсяrazlagátʹsja

    гни́тиhnýty, згнитиzhnyty

  2. (intransitive)To decline in function or utility.

    Your brain will rot if you spend so much time on the computer, Tony!

  3. (ambitransitive)To (cause to) deteriorate in any way, as in morals; to corrupt.

    разлага́тьrazlagátʹ

  4. (transitive)To make putrid; to cause to be wholly or partially decomposed by natural processes.

    to rot vegetable fiber

  5. (figuratively, intransitive)To spend a long period of time (in an unpleasant place or state).

    to rot in prison

    to rot in Hell

  6. (transitive)To expose, as flax, to a process of maceration, etc., for the purpose of separating the fiber; to ret.

  7. (dated, slang)To talk nonsense.

  8. (imperative, slang, transitive)Damn; blast.

More definitions
  • become physically weaker
  • break down

Examples

132 sentences
  1. These oranges have rotted.

    Ці помаранчі згнили.

    ruЭти апельсины сгнили.

    deDiese Orangen sind schlecht geworden.

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  2. Fruit tends to rot right away.

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  3. That smell could be rotting meat.

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  4. I thought I smelled something rotting.

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  5. I hope Tom rots in prison.

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Translations

9 languages
Українська
By meaning 1
(intransitive) to suffer decomposition:
Русский
By meaning 2
(intransitive) to suffer decomposition:
(transitive) to cause to deteriorate in any way, as in morals:
Deutsch
By meaning 1
(intransitive) to suffer decomposition:

Origin

Inherited from Middle English roten, rotten, from Old English rotian (“to rot, become corr

Inherited from Middle English roten, rotten, from Old English rotian (“to rot, become corrupted, ulcerate, putrefy”), from Proto-West Germanic *rotēn, from Proto-Germanic *rutāną (“to rot”).

Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0 · source

Forms

rots, rotting, rotted, rotted
Base formrot · to rot
3rd person singularrots
Present participlerotting
Past simplerotted
Past participlerotted

regular · Lesson

Present simpleLesson

I, you, we, theyrot
he, she, itrots

Past simpleLesson

all personsrotted

Present perfectLesson

I, you, we, theyhave rotted
he, she, ithas rotted

Future simple (will)Lesson

all personswill rot

Phrasal verbs

3 phrasal verbs

Synonyms

5 synonyms
Close in meaning

Word family

1 related words
Relatedrotting

See also

neighbours in the dictionary
rot — meaning, examples, forms, synonyms | Krumeto