Word.ws English Dictionary

How to use rot in a sentence

40 example sentences · verb, noun

Rot means to suffer decomposition due to biological action, especially by fungi or bacteria. Example: “The apple left in the cupboard all that time had started to rot.”

Examples of rot by meaning

verbTo suffer decomposition due to biological action, especially by fungi or bacteria.

  • The apple left in the cupboard all that time had started to rot.

verbTo decline in function or utility.

  • Your brain will rot if you spend so much time on the computer, Tony!

verbTo make putrid; to cause to be wholly or partially decomposed by natural processes.

  • to rot vegetable fiber

verbTo spend a long period of time (in an unpleasant place or state).

  • to rot in prison
  • to rot in Hell

verbDamn; blast.

  • "Oh rot yer!" exclaimed Fank, with a sudden flare of passion that at least carried with it the dignity of a genuine emotion; "I've had just abart enough of you and your blinkin' game, Toady Joolby.1934, Ernest Bramah, The Bravo of London

nounDecaying matter.

  • When a turkey vulture detects the scent of rot, it circles down, tracing the plume of chemicals to its source.2016, Nathanael Johnson, Unseen City, →ISBN, page 115

nounVerbal nonsense.

  • You're talking rot! I don't believe a word.

More sentences with rot

  • Collar rot forms in the collet between the stem and the root.From the entry collet
  • The beams supporting the roof had rotted, causing the entire house to fall down.From the entry fall down
  • The reason this tree fell is that it had rotted.From the entry reason
  • The smell of rotting food repulsed me.From the entry repulse
  • I'm starving, but that rotting meat is unstomachable.From the entry unstomachable
  • That was the point at which the rot set in.From the entry set in
  • The branches eventually rotted off once the tree was uprooted.From the entry rot off
  • Paper after paper spells out how vulnerable we are to internet-induced brain rot.2024 December 9, Siân Boyle, “Is doom scrolling really rotting our brains? The evidence is getting harder to ignore”, in The Guardian…. From the entry after
  • Femceldom represents a sort of self-constructed exile, a dark, rotting core beneath the soft frills of hyperfemininity.2024, Zowie Douglas-Kinghorn, “The return of the femcel”, in The Griffith Review. From the entry hyperfemininity
  • If you’re overly indulging in bed rotting, reach out to a trusted friend or professional for support.2024 August 28, Angela Buttimer, Dennis Buttimer, “Productivity is important, but so are rest and recuperation: JOYFUL DAILY”, in Atlanta…. From the entry bed rotting
  • Moreover, the act of bed rotting itself can result in negative health effects.2023 July 20, Sophie Putka, “What Is Bed Rotting and Is It Actually a Problem?”, in MedPage Today, archived from the original on 20 Jul 2023. From the entry bed rotting
  • You can bed rot for hours, days, or even a full weekend.2023 June 9, Martha Alexander, “Is ‘bed rotting’ the new goblin mode in 2023?”, in The Standard, archived from the original on 11 Mar 2024. From the entry bed rot
  • Already, seedlings root in the nurse logsʼ crevices, nourished by the rot.2018, Richard Powers, The Overstory, Vintage (2019), page 624. From the entry nurse log
  • Each year rotted and broken timbers, coins and bric-a-brac are tossed upon the Maine shore line.2018, Horace P. Beck, The Folklore of Maine. From the entry Mainite
  • Maurice Bourke, convalescing at Battenberg's Rhineland Schloss, had "never read such rot as Columbus has written.2013, Andrew Gordon, Paul Wilderson, The Rules of the Game: Jutland and British Naval Command, →ISBN. From the entry last-wordism
  • And yet despite storing his rotting wazz next to his ham, it doesn't stop him being cool.2011, Caitlin Moran, How to Be a Woman. From the entry wazz
  • I slithered over roots and through a bramble bush and a mulchy pile of rotting leaves.2010, Adrian McKinty, The Dead Yard. From the entry mulchy
  • Add Barcoo rot to the torment and it was little wonder some boys came down with fever.2009, Mike Keenan, The Shadows of Horses, page 225. From the entry Barcoo rot
  • Under an epitaphed marble slab in a nearby grassy cemetery a loved one rots .2008, William E. Woodruff, A Quirky Eye, page 137. From the entry epitaphed
  • Bustling kopitiams sprouted around derelict whiskey bars like toadstools around rotting logs.2008, Preeta Samarasan, Evening is the Whole Day, Fourth Estate, page 23. From the entry kopitiam
  • Kern, an 81-year-old widow, lives alone amid floors rotted in places and some paneless windows.2007 August 26, Bruce Lambert, “Amid Family’s Quarrels, a Home Worthy of Gatsby Begins to Crumble”, in New York Times. From the entry paneless
  • The first sign of rot was the widespread adoption of fluorescent safety-style policewear.2007 June 30, James May, “Give the rozzers a little respect”, in The Daily Telegraph, number 47,298, page M12. From the entry policewear
  • Nelson and I landed next to the half rotted corpse of a horse full of maggots.2005, J. C. Arlington, A Red Horse Rode Out, West Conshohoken, PA: Infinity Publishing, page 91. From the entry corpse
  • The fleshy sacks that dangled down between his legs, like rotting ackees, wobbled.2004, Andrea Levy, chapter 7, in Small Island, London: Review, pages 104–105. From the entry ackee
  • Other seed-borne diseases are the Alternarias, Ascochytas, Black leg, Black rot.2001, Derek Soper, A guide to seed treatments in the UK, page 25. From the entry ascochyta
  • Fungi break down the wood inwards from lopping wounds, causing white or brown rot.1995, L Wessoly, Fracture diagnosis of trees. From the entry falseheart
  • Honestly, probably not, because I like peely paint and rotted edges.1987 November/December, P. Poore, “Ad Ethics”, in The Old-House Journal: 1987 Yearbook, Brooklyn, N.Y.: The Old-House Journal Corporation…. From the entry peely
  • I truly resent any insinuation that I "slunk back into that rotting old closet."1976 August 28, Michael Shernoff, “No 'Rotting Closet'”, in Gay Community News, volume 4, number 9, page 5. From the entry impel
  • Therefore I am like a moth to Ephraim, and like dry rot to the house of Judah.1952, RSV, Hosea 5:12. From the entry dry rot
  • Blue mold and the black rot fungus are most Commonly found associated with blotch in this way.1951, Dean Humboldt Rose, Lacy Porter McColloch, D. F. Fisher, Market Diseases of Fruits and Vegetables: Apples, Pears, Quinces. From the entry blotch
  • It's th' one in th' low swag by th' old rotted white oak stump.1941, Jesse Stuart, Men of the Mountains, page 273. From the entry swag
  • Jemmy eyed him but his sternity rotted to foolishness in his stare.1938, Patrick Kavanagh, The Green Fool, page 98. From the entry sternity

Meaning of rot

  1. verb To suffer decomposition due to biological action, especially by fungi or bacteria.
  2. verb To decline in function or utility.
  3. verb To (cause to) deteriorate in any way, as in morals; to corrupt.

Full definition of rot

Questions about rot in a sentence

How do you use rot in a sentence?
Rot is used as a verb and noun. For example: “The apple left in the cupboard all that time had started to rot.”
What is a short sentence with rot?
“to rot in Hell”
What does rot mean?
Rot means to suffer decomposition due to biological action, especially by fungi or bacteria.

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: rot (page history and authors) and the entries each sentence comes from. Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws chose the sentences, left out offensive ones and quotations older than 1900, and marked the word in each. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this page: “How to use rot in a sentence.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/sentences/rot. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.