Word.ws English Dictionary

something is rotten in the state of Denmark

something is rotten in the state of Denmark phrase: something is not right, seriously amiss, especially when leading to suspicion of motive.

Phrase

something is rotten in the state of Denmark

  1. (idiomatic) Something is not right, seriously amiss, especially when leading to suspicion of motive.
    • If the authorities knew about the problems and chose not to prevent them, then clearly something is rotten in the state of Denmark.
    • Something is rotten in the ſtate of Denmarke.[c. 1599–1602 (date written), William Shake-speare, The Tragicall Historie of Hamlet, Prince of Denmarke: […] (First Quarto), London: […] [Valentine Simmes] for N[icholas] L[ing] and Iohn Trundell...

Examples of something is rotten in the state of Denmark in a sentence

  • When one gets that sort of proportion one begins to think, “Something is rotten in the state of Denmark”.1992 November 18, Lord Mackie of Benshie, “World Food Situation”, in parliamentary debates (Lords Chamber), volume 540, column 661:
  • My belief that something is rotten in the State of Denmark is bred by recent developments, both political and cultural.2016, Robin Morgan, editor, Sisterhood Is Global […] , Open Road Media, →ISBN:

Forms of something is rotten in the state of Denmark

alternative formsomething is rotten in Denmark
alternative formthere is something rotten in the state of Denmark

Origin of something is rotten in the state of Denmark

A line spoken by Marcellus in William Shakespeare's Hamlet, Act I, scene iv.

Questions about something is rotten in the state of Denmark

What does something is rotten in the state of Denmark mean?
Something is rotten in the state of Denmark means something is not right, seriously amiss, especially when leading to suspicion of motive.
How do you use something is rotten in the state of Denmark in a sentence?
When one gets that sort of proportion one begins to think, “Something is rotten in the state of Denmark”.
What part of speech is something is rotten in the state of Denmark?
Something is rotten in the state of Denmark is a phrase.

Words near something is rotten in the state of Denmark in the dictionary

  1. something fierce
  2. something for the weekend
  3. something good
  4. something is better than nothing
  5. something is rotten in Denmark
  6. something is rotten in the state of Denmark
  7. something is up
  8. something like
  9. something like that
  10. something nasty in the woodshed
  11. something or another

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: something is rotten in the state of Denmark (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: En-au-something is rotten in the state of Denmark.ogg.

Cite this entry: “something is rotten in the state of Denmark.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/something_is_rotten_in_the_state_of_denmark. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.