rotten to the core

Thoroughly and totally bad, evil, or corrupt. The defense attorney refused to take the case when he realized the criminal was rotten to the core, unrepentantly boasting about his heinous crimes. That company is just rotten to the core—I wouldn't be surprised if all the employees were embezzling money!

See also: core, rotten

rotten to the core

Fig. really bad; corrupt. That lousy punk is rotten to the core. The entire administration is rotten to the core.

See also: core, rotten

rotten to the core

Thoroughly bad, as in It seems that this police unit is rotten to the core, involved in numerous extortion schemes . The noun core here denotes the central part or heart of anything or anyone. The idiom was first recorded in 1804.

See also: core, rotten

rotten to the core

mod. really bad. (see also rotten apple.) That lousy punk is rotten to the core.

See also: core, rotten

References in periodicals archive ?

This grand old football club, this institution we hold so dear, is rotten to the core

Fans plan walkout protests in bid to save crisis club; Plea to join campaigners and be 'Out the Door on 74' at Villa Park

Briefly, in the order that they unfold for the sake of a cohesive plot, these are: Delhi is unsafe for women, cops are a ruthless and greedy lot, the political system is rotten to the core.

LOSES ITS PLOT

Unfortunately, the motor's problems are from skin deep - it's rotten to the core.

THE TREASURE HUNTERS BBC1, 9pm [...]

The system is corrupt and rotten to the core and rotting away with every passing day.

Let the honest win

Imagine a junior cabinet member describing the system as having rotten to the core and [who] did not want to resign even when the president gave him one month to do so or make an apology", he added.

South Sudan's Kiir fired deputy foreign affairs minister over "repulsive remark": source

If you thought Wall Street was rotten to the core, you may have just been proved right.

Rotten To The Core? A Quarter Of Bankers Say Illegal Activity Vital For Success

FIFA looks rotten to the core now - with one candidate suspended and the other sailing towards a coronation as if nothing had happened.

Blatter denies football is in 'crisis' ahead of FIFA presidential election

THERE is a real sense in which the Common Agricultural Policy is the raison d'etre for the existence of the European Union and since the operation of the CAP is rotten to the core, it follows logically that so is the EU.

CAP illustrates failure of the EU; VOICE OF THE NORTH

I'M finding this a tough World Cup to predict but I was right about two things - France are rotten to the core and Italy's day is done.

Farcical French exit came as little surprise

Sheila Connolly's ROTTEN TO THE CORE (9780425228760, $6.

Berkeley Prime Crime

The reason why this country is turning rotten to the core is that people are turning against him.

Letter: True Lord

I think that Saddam was rotten to the core and got what he deserved until I kept seeing [those] videos.

Quotable & notable

The assumption isn't just flawed, it's rotten to the core.

Let a thousand choices bloom: debating the future of education reform

You knew Leonid Lavrovsky's Tybalt was rotten to the core when he proved rotten to the corps, kicking every peasant who crossed his path.