different between rotten vs gross

English

Etymology

From Middle English roten, from Old Norse rotinn (“decayed, rotten”), past participle of an unrecorded verb related to Old Norse rotna (“to rot”) and Old English rotian (“to rot”), ultimately from Proto-Germanic *rut?n? (“to rot”). More at rot.

Pronunciation

• (General American) IPA^(key): /???tn?/, [????n?]
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /???tn?/
• Rhymes: -?t?n

Adjective

rotten (comparative rottener or more rotten, superlative rottenest or most rotten)

1. Of perishable items, overridden with bacteria and other infectious agents.

   If you leave a bin unattended for a few weeks, the rubbish inside will turn rotten.

   • 1596-99?, William Shakespeare, The Merchant of Venice, Act I, scene iii:

     Antonio: Mark you this, Bassanio, / The devil can cite Scripture for his purpose. / An evil soul producing holy witness / Is like a villain with a smiling cheek, / A goodly apple rotten at the heart. / O, what a goodly outside falsehood hath!

2. In a state of decay.

   The floors were damaged and the walls were rotten.

   His mouth stank and his teeth were rotten.

3. Cruel, mean or immoral.

   That man is a rotten father.

   This rotten policy will create more injustice in this country.

4. Bad or terrible.

   Why is the weather always rotten in this city?

   It was a rotten idea to take the boat out today.

   She has the flu and feels rotten.

Usage notes

• Nouns to which “rotten” is often applied: wood, food, egg, meat, fruit, tomato, apple, banana, milk, vegetable, stuff, tooth, smell, person, kid, bastard, scoundrel, weather.

Derived terms

Translations

Adverb

rotten (comparative more rotten, superlative most rotten)

1. To an extreme degree.

   That kid is spoilt rotten.

   The girls fancy him something rotten.

Anagrams

• Trento, torent

Dutch

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?r?t?(n)/
• Rhymes: -?t?n

Etymology 1

From Middle Dutch rotten, reformed from earlier roten, from Old Dutch *roton, from Proto-Germanic *rut?n?.

Verb

rotten

1. To rot, to go bad, to decay.

Inflection

Derived terms

• doorrotten
• verrotten
• wegrotten

Etymology 2

Noun

rotten

1. Plural form of rot

German

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?r?t?n/, [???t?n], [???tn?]
• Hyphenation: rot?ten

Etymology 1

From Middle High German roten, derived from rote (whence modern Rotte), from Old French rote, from Latin rupta.

Verb

rotten (weak, third-person singular present rottet, past tense rottete, past participle gerottet, auxiliary haben)

1. (obsolete) To form into a gang, to rout, to squad.

Conjugation

Derived terms

• zusammenrotten (remains common)

Etymology 2

From Middle High German roten, roden, from Proto-Germanic *rud?n?.

Verb

rotten (weak, third-person singular present rottet, past tense rottete, past participle gerottet, auxiliary haben)

1. (obsolete) Alternative form of roden (“to clear woods, to make arable”)

Conjugation

Derived terms

• ausrotten (remains common)

Etymology 3

From Middle Low German rotten, alteration (perhaps intensivation) of older r?ten, from Old Saxon rot?n, from Proto-Germanic *rut?n?.

Verb

rotten (weak, third-person singular present rottet, past tense rottete, past participle gerottet, auxiliary haben)

1. To rot, to decay.

Conjugation

Usage notes

• As a simplex chiefly with certain adverbs, like vor sich hin. More common in compounds.

Synonyms

• faulen
• verfaulen

Derived terms

• dahinrotten
• verrotten

Middle English

Verb

rotten

1. Alternative form of roten (“to rot”)

Norwegian Bokmål

Alternative forms

• rotta f

Noun

rotten m

1. definite masculine singular of rotte: rat (rodent)

West Frisian

Noun

rotten

1. plural of rôt

English

Etymology

From Middle English gross (“whole, entire; flagrant, monstrous”), from Old French gros (“big, thick, large, stout”), from Late Latin grossus (“thick in diameter, coarse”), and Medieval Latin grossus (“great, big”), influenced by Old High German gr?z (“big, thick, coarse”), from Proto-Germanic *grautaz (“large, great, thick, coarse grained, unrefined”), from Proto-Indo-European *g?er- (“to rub, to stroke, to grind”). Cognate with French grossier (“gross”). See also French dialectal grôt, groût (“large”) (Berry) and grô (“large”) (Burgundy), Catalan gros (“big”), Dutch groot (“big, large”), German groß (“large”), English great. More at great.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /????s/
• (US) IPA^(key): /??o?s/
• Homophone: Gross
• Rhymes: -??s

Adjective

gross (comparative grosser or more gross, superlative grossest or most gross)

1. (of behaviour considered to be wrong) Highly or conspicuously offensive.

   Synonyms: serious, flagrant, shameful, appalling, egregious.

   • c. 1595, William Shakespeare, Richard II, Act II, Scene 3,^[1]

     Henry IV. My gracious uncle, let me know my fault:

     On what condition stands it and wherein?

     Edmund of Langley. Even in condition of the worst degree,

     In gross rebellion and detested treason:

   • 1682, Aphra Behn, The City-Heiress, London: D. Brown et al., Act IV, Scene 1, p. 40,^[2]

     Your very faults, how gross soere, to me

     Have something pleasing in ’em.

   • 1749, Henry Fielding, The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling, Dublin: John Smith, Volume 3, Book 18, Chapter 10, p. 336,^[3]

     […] I thank Heaven I have had Time to reflect on my past Life, where though I cannot charge myself with any gross Villainy, yet I can discern Follies and Vices too sufficient to repent and to be ashamed of;

   • 1813, Jane Austen, Pride and Prejudice, Chapter 13,^[4]

     […] had his actions been what Wickham represented them, so gross a violation of every thing right could hardly have been concealed from the world;

   • 1908, Kenneth Grahame, The Wind in the Willows, Chapter 6,^[5]

     […] he has been found guilty, on the clearest evidence, first, of stealing a valuable motor-car; secondly, of driving to the public danger; and, thirdly, of gross impertinence to the rural police.

2. (of an amount) Excluding any deductions; including all associated amounts.

   Synonyms: whole, entire, overall, total, aggregate

   Antonym: net

   • c. 1597, William Shakespeare, Henry IV, Part 2, Act II, Scene 1,^[6]

     What is the gross sum that I owe thee?

   • 1878, Thomas Hardy, The Return of the Native, Book 6, Chapter 1,^[7]

     For a man of his habits the house and the hundred and twenty pounds a year which he had inherited from his mother were enough to supply all worldly needs. Resources do not depend upon gross amounts, but upon the proportion of spendings to takings.

   • 1937, George Orwell, The Road to Wigan Pier, Penguin, 1962, Part 1, Chapter 3, p. 37,^[8]

     […] please notice that even these wretched earnings are gross earnings. On top of this there are all kinds of stoppages which are deducted from the miner’s wages every week.

3. (sciences, pathology) Seen without a microscope (usually for a tissue or an organ); at a large scale; not detailed.

   Synonym: macroscopic

   Antonym: microscopic

   • 1962, Rachel Carson, Silent Spring, Boston: Houghton Mifflin, Chapter 12, p. 190,^[9]

     We are accustomed to look for the gross and immediate effect and to ignore all else. Unless this appears promptly and in such obvious form that it cannot be ignored, we deny the existence of hazard.

4. (slang, Canada, US) Causing disgust.

   Synonyms: gro, grody, grotty, disgusting, nasty, revolting, yucky

   • 1978, Armistead Maupin, Tales of the City, New York: Harper & Row, 1989, “Ties That Bind,” p. 293,^[10]

     Mary Ann spent her lunch hour at Hastings, picking out just the right tie for Norman. The hint might not be terribly subtle, she decided, but somebody had to do something about that gross, gravy-stained clip-on number.

   • 2002, Jeffrey Eugenides, Middlesex, New York: Picador, Book 3, p. 306,^[11]

     The next-door neighbor’s cat coughed up a hairball one day and the hair was not the cat’s. “That’s so gross!”

5. Lacking refinement in behaviour or manner; offending a standard of morality.

   Synonyms: coarse, rude, vulgar, obscene, impure

   • 1777, Richard Brinsley Sheridan, The School for Scandal, Act I, Scene 1, ^[12]

     Verjuice. She certainly has Talents.

     Lady Sneerwell. But her manner is gross.

   • 1874: Dodsley et al., A Select Collection of Old English Plays

     But man to know God is a difficulty, except by a mean he himself inure, which is to know God’s creatures that be: at first them that be of the grossest nature, and then [...] them that be more pure.
6. (of a product) Lacking refinement; not of high quality.

   Synonyms: coarse, rough, unrefined

   Antonym: fine

   • 1860, John Ruskin, Modern Painters, Volume 5, Part 6, Chapter 10, § 5,^[13]

     The flowers of Rubens are gross and rude […]

   • 1944, Emily Carr, The House of All Sorts, “Lorenzo Was Registered,” ^[14]

     He scorned my wholesome kennel fare, toothing out dainties and leaving the grosser portions to be finished by the other dogs.

7. (of a person) Heavy in proportion to one's height; having a lot of excess flesh.

   Synonyms: great, large, bulky, fat, obese

   • 1925, W. Somerset Maugham, The Painted Veil, London: Heinemann, 1934, Chapter 79,^[15]

     Kitty noticed that her sister’s pregnancy had blunted her features and in her black dress she looked gross and blousy.

   • 2013, Hilary Mantel, ‘Royal Bodies’, London Review of Books, 35.IV:

     He collected a number of injuries that stopped him jousting, and then in middle age became stout, eventually gross.

8. (archaic) Not sensitive in perception or feeling.

   Synonyms: dull, witless

   • 1611, King James Version of the Bible, Matthew 13.15,^[16]

     For this people’s heart is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes they have closed; lest at any time they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears, and should understand with their heart, and should be converted, and I should heal them.

   • 1634, John Milton, Comus, in Poems of Mr. John Milton, London: Humphrey Moseley, 1645, p. ,^[17]

     A thousand liveried Angels lacky her [the chaste soul],

     Driving far off each thing of sin and guilt,

     And in cleer dream, and solemn vision

     Tell her of things that no gross ear can hear.

9. (now chiefly poetic) Difficult or impossible to see through.

   Synonyms: thick, heavy

   • 1594, Christopher Marlowe, Edward II, London: William Jones,^[18]

     Couragious Lancaster, imbrace thy king,

     And as grosse vapours perish by the sunne,

     Euen so let hatred with thy soueraigne smile,

   • 1611, King James Version of the Bible, Isaiah 60.2,^[19]

     For, behold, the darkness shall cover the earth, and gross darkness the people: but the Lord shall arise upon thee, and his glory shall be seen upon thee.

   • 1785, William Cowper, The Task, London: J. Johnson, Book 3, p. 116,^[20]

     A pestilent and most corrosive steam,

     Like a gross fog Boeotian, rising fast,

     And fast condensed upon the dewy sash,

     Asks egress;

   • 1870, James Russell Lowell, The Cathedral, Boston: Fields, Osgood, p. 34,^[21]

     […] a larger life

     Upon his own impinging, with swift glimpse

     Of spacious circles luminous with mind,

     To which the ethereal substance of his own

     Seems but gross cloud to make that visible,

     Touched to a sudden glory round the edge.

10. (obsolete) Easy to perceive.

    Synonyms: obvious, clear

    • c. 1598, William Shakespeare, Henry V, Act II, Scene 2,^[22]

      […] though the truth of it stands off as gross

      As black and white, my eye will scarcely see it.

Synonyms

• (heavy in proportion to one's height): See also Thesaurus:obese

Derived terms

• grossen
• grossish
• grossly

Translations

Noun

gross (countable and uncountable, plural gross or grosses)

1. Twelve dozen = 144.
2. The total nominal earnings or amount, before taxes, expenses, exceptions or similar are deducted. That which remains after all deductions is called net.
3. The bulk, the mass, the masses.

Translations

Verb

gross (third-person singular simple present grosses, present participle grossing, simple past and past participle grossed)

1. (transitive) To earn money, not including expenses.

   The movie grossed three million on the first weekend.

Derived terms

Related terms

• engross
• grocer, grocery, groceries

Anagrams

• Sgros, Sorgs

German

Adjective

gross (comparative grösser, superlative am grössten)

1. Switzerland and Liechtenstein standard spelling of groß

Declension

Pennsylvania German

Etymology

From Old High German gr?z, from Proto-Germanic *grautaz. Compare German groß, Dutch groot, English great.

Adjective

gross (comparative greesser, superlative greescht)

1. big, large

Derived terms

• Grossdaadi
• Grossmammi

Swedish

Etymology

From French grosse (douzaine), "large (dozen)"

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?r?s/

Noun

gross n

1. a gross, twelve dozen (144)

Declension

Related terms

• grosshandlare

See also

• dussin
• tjog

Anagrams

• sorgs