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core
inner core
The innermost part of something. The term is used both literally and figuratively. What is the Earth's inner core made of? At his inner core, he's a good person, I just know it.
outer core
One part of the inside of the Earth (as opposed to the Earth's "inner core"). All right class, what can you tell me about the Earth's outer core?
rotten to the core
Fig. really bad; corrupt. That lousy punk is rotten to the core. The entire administration is rotten to the core.
to the core
all the way through; basically and essentially. (Usually with some negative sense, such as evil, rotten, etc.) Bill said that John is evil to the core. This organization is rotten to the core.
to the core
completely or totally
A showman to the core, Chuck arrived at my party wearing a white headdress and a long purple cape. Usage notes: often used in the form rotten to the core (totally bad or evil): That kid is rotten to the core.
to the core
in every part
Usage notes: The core is the central part of something, for example an apple or the earth.
He's convinced that the army is rotten to the core. I'd never heard anything like it. I was shocked to the core. (= extremely shocked) be rotten to the core
if a person or an organization is rotten to the core, it behaves in a way that is not honest or moral The whole legal system is rotten to the core.
See a bad apple, spoil rottenrotten to the core
Thoroughly bad, as in It seems that this police unit is rotten to the core, involved in numerous extortion schemes . The noun core here denotes the central part or heart of anything or anyone. The idiom was first recorded in 1804.
hard-core
1. mod. sexually explicit; pornographic. You can’t sell that hard-core stuff in a store like this!
2. mod. extreme; entrenched. There are too many hard-core cases of poverty there.
3. mod. very good; stunning; great. I’d like a really hard-core pizza with at least five kinds of cheese.
4. mod. extreme; quintessential. She thinks of herself as a hard-core leftist.
rotten to the core
mod. really bad. (see also
rotten apple.)
That lousy punk is rotten to the core. soft core
1. mod. referring to a mild type of pornography. Now even the soft core stuff is getting harder to find at newsstands.
2. n. mild pornography. They keep some soft core under the counter.
soft-core
1. mod. [of pornography] less revealing or realistic than real life; not showing genitals. They are showing a lot of soft-core stuff on cable and most of the soap operas.
2. mod. less intense or extreme than hard-core. She had a soft-core approach to portraying suffering.