rotten

Food that has gone bad and should no longer be eaten.

• This apple is rotten.
• We threw away the rotten vegetables.
• The kitchen smelled of rotten eggs.

Similar words: spoiled, bad, decayed

Opposites: fresh

Common phrases: rotten fruit, rotten egg, rotten meat, rotten food

Broken down by age, water, or natural processes, so that it is weak or damaged.

• The fence posts are rotten.
• He replaced the rotten boards in the floor.
• A rotten branch broke off during the storm.

Similar words: decayed, rotted

Opposites: sound

Common phrases: rotten wood, rotten floorboards, rotten tree

Very unkind, unfair, or dishonest.

• That was a rotten trick.
• She was rotten to everyone who tried to help.
• Only a rotten person would steal from a child.

How to use it: be rotten to someone (He was rotten to his younger brother.)

Similar words: mean, cruel, nasty

Opposites: kind, decent

Common phrases: rotten person, rotten to someone, rotten trick

To a very great degree, especially when someone is given too much attention or too many treats.

• They spoil their dog rotten.
• We were pampered rotten at the hotel.
• That sudden noise scared me rotten.

How to use it: spoil/pamper someone rotten (Her grandparents spoil her rotten.)

Similar words: completely, thoroughly, extremely

Common phrases: spoil someone rotten, pamper someone rotten, scare someone rotten