Corruption is a general concept describing any organized, interdependent system in which part of the system is either not performing duties it was originally intended to, or performing them in an improper way, to the detriment of the system's original purpose.
Specific types of corruption include:
Putrefaction or decomposition of recently living matter. This physical process is the primary model of the metaphorical meaning of corruption, so advanced states of corruption in, e.g. a political structure are said to result in their putrefaction.
Political corruption, dysfunctions of a political system or institution in which public officials seek illegitimate personal gain through actions such as bribery, extortion, cronyism, nepotism, patronage, graft, and embezzlement. "Rent seeking" is a closely related term in economics.
Police corruption, a type of political corruption that infects police departments.
Data corruption, the receiving of data which is different from that which was transmitted or otherwise intended.
Corruption (linguistics) of language or a text into a broken form or a different meaning.
Tempting a mind to do immoral things, e.g. corrupting the youth.
