What's the difference between
and
Enter two words to compare and contrast their definitions, origins, and synonyms to better understand how those words are related.

Corruption vs Criminal - What's the difference?

corruption | criminal |

As nouns the difference between corruption and criminal

is that corruption is the act of corrupting or of impairing integrity, virtue, or moral principle; the state of being corrupted or debased; loss of purity or integrity; depravity; wickedness; impurity; bribery while criminal is a person who is guilty of a crime, notably breaking the law.

As an adjective criminal is

being against the law; forbidden by law.

corruption

English

(wikipedia corruption)

Noun

  • The act of corrupting or of impairing integrity, virtue, or moral principle; the state of being corrupted or debased; loss of purity or integrity; depravity; wickedness; impurity; bribery.
  • * (Henry Hallam) The Constitutional History of England
    • It was necessary, by exposing the gross corruptions of monasteries, . . . to exite popular indignation against them.
  • * (George Bancroft)
    • They abstained from some of the worst methods of corruption usual to their party in its earlier days.
  • * {{quote-book, year=2006, author=(Edwin Black), title=Internal Combustion
    • , chapter=1 citation , passage=But electric vehicles and the batteries that made them run became ensnared in corporate scandals, fraud, and monopolistic corruption that shook the confidence of the nation and inspired automotive upstarts.}}
  • * {{quote-magazine, date=2013-06-07, author=(Gary Younge)
    • , volume=188, issue=26, page=18, magazine=(The Guardian Weekly) , title= Hypocrisy lies at heart of Manning prosecution , passage=WikiLeaks did not cause these uprisings but it certainly informed them. The dispatches revealed details of corruption and kleptocracy that many Tunisians suspected, but could not prove, and would cite as they took to the streets.}}
  • The act of corrupting or making putrid, or state of being corrupt or putrid; decomposition or disorganization, in the process of putrefaction; putrefaction; deterioration.
  • The product of corruption; putrid matter.
  • The decomposition of biological matter.
  • Bribing.
  • (computing) The destruction of data by manipulation of parts of it, either by deliberate or accidental human action or by imperfections in storage or transmission media.
  • The act of changing, or of being changed, for the worse; departure from what is pure, simple, or correct; as, a corruption of style; corruption in language.
  • (linguistics) A debased or nonstandard form of a word, expression, or text, resulting from misunderstanding, transcription error, mishearing, etc.
  • Something that is evil but is supposed to be good.
  • * (Francis Bacon)
    • The inducing and accelerating of putrefaction is a subject of very universal inquiry; for corruption is a reciprocal to generation.

    Usage notes

    * Corruption, when applied to officers, trustees, etc., signifies the inducing a violation of duty by means of pecuniary considerations. — (Abbott)

    Synonyms

    * (act of corrupting or making putrid) adulteration, contamination, debasement, defilement, dirtying, soiling, tainting * (state of being corrupt or putrid) decay, decomposition, deterioration, putrefaction, rotting * decay, putrescence, rot * (sense) * (state of being corrupted or debased) debasement, depravity, evil, impurity, sinfulness, wickedness * (act of changing for the worse) deterioration, worsening * (act of being changed for the worse) destroying, ruining, spoiling * (departure from what is pure or correct) deterioration, erosion * bastardization

    Derived terms

    * corruption of blood (Webster 1913) ----

    criminal

    English

    Adjective

    (en adjective)
  • Being against the law; forbidden by law.
  • * Addison
    • Foppish and fantastic ornaments are only indications of vice, not criminal in themselves.
  • Guilty of breaking the law.
  • * Rogers
    • The neglect of any of the relative duties renders us criminal in the sight of God.
  • Of or relating to crime or penal law.
  • * Hallam
    • The officers and servants of the crown, violating the personal liberty, or other right of the subject were in some cases liable to criminal process.
    His long criminal record suggests that he is a dangerous man.
  • (figuratively) Abhorrent or very undesirable, even if allowed by law.
    • ''Printing such asinine opinions without rebuttal is criminal , even when not libel!

    Usage notes

    * Nouns to which "criminal" is often applied: law, justice, court, procedure, prosecution, intent, case, record, act, action, behavior, code, offence, liability, investigation, conduct, defense, trial, history, responsibility, lawyer, tribunal, appeal, process, background, mind, conspiracy, evidence, gang, organization, underworld, jurisprudence, offender, jury, police, past, group, punishment, attorney, violence, report, career, psychology.

    Synonyms

    * illegal

    Derived terms

    * criminal conversation * criminalisation * criminalist * criminalistics * criminality * criminalize * criminal law * criminal-law * criminally * criminal negligence * criminalness * criminal-offence * criminal offence * criminal procedure * criminal record

    Related terms

    * criminate * crimination * criminologist * criminology * criminousness

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • A person who is guilty of a crime, notably breaking the law.
  • * {{quote-book, year=1963, author=(Margery Allingham)
    • , title=(The China Governess) , chapter=3 citation , passage=‘[…] There's every Staffordshire crime-piece ever made in this cabinet, and that's unique. The Van Hoyer Museum in New York hasn't that very rare second version of Maria Marten's Red Barn over there, nor the little Frederick George Manning—he was the criminal Dickens saw hanged on the roof of the gaol in Horsemonger Lane, by the way—’}}

    Synonyms

    * lawbreaker * offender * perpetrator * See also