Meaning & use
incorruptible
Last updated
Meanings
adjectivenot comparable
Impossible to bribe or persuade to act dishonestly.
Grammar: Describes a person or institution; used after linking verbs like be, seem, remain.
Patterns
- be incorruptible
- remain incorruptible
- an incorruptible official
The judge was known as an incorruptible public servant.
Even under pressure, she remained incorruptible.
Voters admired him for being incorruptible.
adjectivenot comparabletechnicalliterary
Not capable of decay or decomposition.
Grammar: Used mainly of materials or substances in technical or literary contexts.
Patterns
- incorruptible material
- incorruptible body
The ancient embalming made the body almost incorruptible.
Diamond is often described as an incorruptible substance.
Common combinations
- incorruptible integrity
- Her incorruptible integrity impressed everyone.
- incorruptible judge
- The incorruptible judge refused the bribe.
- remain incorruptible
- He remained incorruptible despite many offers.
- incorruptible official
- An incorruptible official is rare in that system.
Synonyms and how they differ
- honest
- More general; honest means truthful, while incorruptible specifically means impossible to bribe.
- unbribable
- Very close, but less common and more literal.
- principled
- Focuses on having strong moral rules, not necessarily on resisting bribes.
Opposites
Word family
- incorruptibility noun
- The quality of being impossible to corrupt.
- incorruptibly adverb
- In a manner that cannot be corrupted.
Commonly confused: incorruptible or incorrupt?
incorruptible vs incorrupt
Incorrupt is a rarer adjective meaning not corrupted; incorruptible is the usual word for 'cannot be bribed'.
Practice
Which sentence uses 'incorruptible' correctly?
Choose one answer.
Incorruptible means impossible to bribe or morally corrupt, so 'will not take bribes' fits. Option An is wrong because incorruptible means not decaying, not rusting. Option B is wrong because an incorruptible person would not accept a bribe. Option D is wrong because incorruptible does not mean dishonest.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “incorruptible”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.