rotten
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
Perkins envisaged an investor in 2030, looking back on 2026 as the year when things started to look a bit rotten below the surface.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 26, 2026
He also disarms skeptics with self-deprecation: “I am a dirty, rotten sinner,” he often says.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 14, 2026
The South Coast Air Quality Management District received more than 4,900 odor complaints, “reporting persistent rotten, sour and garbage-like odors,” and issued the company 38 violation notices for public nuisance.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 17, 2026
The stench of rotten eggs and burning debris fills the air in Boxtown, a predominantly Black neighborhood in Memphis.
From Barron's ● Aug. 11, 2026
Her name felt like biting into something sour and rotten.
From "The Way to Rio Luna" by Zoraida Cordova
![]()
This is an illness, a mania, but seems more like something a writer might envy, which feels even rottener than envy usually does, because Gould was a toothless madman who slept in the street.
From The New Yorker ● Jul. 27, 2015
Back in England, he yanked some young offenders out of the regular prisons, moved them away from the older, rottener apples to a Kentish village called Borstal.
From Time Magazine Archive
![]()
The wooden bridge is more askew, rottener than I remember.
From "Cat's Eye" by Margaret Atwood
![]()
It’s a pity to have done all that damage though, gets us a rottener name than ever.”
From Haviland's Chum by Bertram Mitford
"Well, they couldn't look rottener than what they do at present," Barnes put in.
From Sinister Street, vol. 2 by Compton MacKenzie
Oliver’s efforts to save Manny require the kind of ruthless cunning he learned earlier from the rottenest of rotten cops.
From Washington Post ● Feb. 2, 2018
“He is very, very dead. The rottenest of the rotten. . . . But hey, we have his plays, so voilà.”
From The New Yorker ● Aug. 12, 2014
“It was the rottenest clinch they ever had in a movie,” Ms. Channing says after describing their awkward practice session.
From New York Times ● Feb. 3, 2012
Made from the juiciest of rotten apples, the rottenest of juicy maggots, and bits of skin and rags that fell into the barrel.
From The Guardian ● Jul. 22, 2010
“I got three of them. The rottenest eggs in Sassafras Springs.”
From "The Seven Wonders of Sassafras Springs" by Betty G. Birney
![]()
Vocabulary lists containing rotten
Oh, No! Synonyms for "Bad"
Looking to grow your vocabulary? Check out this interactive, curated word list from our team of English language specialists at Vocabulary.com – one of over 17,000 lists we've built to help learners worldwide!
List 3
Interested in learning more words like this one? Our team at Vocabulary.com has got you covered! You can review flashcards, quiz yourself, practice spelling, and more – and it's all completely free to use!
So Bad: Synonyms for "Awful"
Want to remember this word for good? Start your learning journey today with our library of interactive, themed word lists built by the experts at Vocabulary.com – we'll help you make the most of your study time!
Random Word
Spin the wheel and learn a new word!
Get a word