corrupted

Corrupted is the past participle of the verb corrupt and is used as an adjective to describe something that has lost its integrity, purity, or original state through damage, decay, or unethical influence. The term can apply to physical objects as well as abstract ideas, and it often indicates a departure from accepted norms, standards, or laws. Etymologically, corrupt derives from Latin corruptus, from corrumpere, meaning to spoil or break apart; in English it has been used since the 15th century to denote both moral decline and degradation of quality.

In computing and digital contexts, data corruption refers to unintended changes to information that compromise its integrity or usability. Causes include hardware faults, software bugs, transmission errors, and malware. A corrupted file may fail to open, display garbled content, or lose data. Protective measures include checksums, parity bits, cyclic redundancy checks, and error-correcting codes; redundant storage and backups help limit impact.

In politics and society, corruption denotes the abuse of entrusted power for private gain. Common forms include bribery, embezzlement, fraud, and influence peddling. Corruption erodes trust, hampers economic development, and undermines public institutions. Anti-corruption efforts emphasize transparency, audits, whistleblower protections, governance reforms, and legal sanctions.

In linguistics and textual studies, corruption can describe alterations to a text introduced by copying errors, translation, or editorial changes that compromise fidelity to an original source. Scholars document and correct such corruptions through critical editions and textual criticism.