rotten borough
/ˌɹɑtn̩ ˈbʌɹoʊ/
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 3.52 in modern English
19
Scrabble Score
13
Letters
3
Syllables
9
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
A parliamentary borough that was represented in Parliament although the number of voters had diminished so greatly that they were largely controlled by the main landowner; such boroughs were abolished in the 19th century.
British usage
Example Sentences
- "[…] Queen's Crawley was no longer so populous a place as it had been in Queen Bess's time—nay, was come down to that condition of borough which used to be denominated rotten–yet, as Sir Pitt Crawley would say with perfect justice in his elegant way, "Rotten! be hanged—it produces me a good fifteen hundred a year.""
Etymology
From rotten (“in a state of decay”) + borough (“type of administrative district”), because such boroughs were regarded as having “decayed” due to their voters moving away to other places.
Word Breakdown
- Root: *Hrew-
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /ˌɹɑtn̩ ˈbʌɹoʊ/
- British English: /ˌɹɒtn̩ ˈbʌɹə/
Usage
- British usage