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core

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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.

See also: core, inner

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?

See also: core, outer

rotten to the core

Fig. really bad; corrupt. That lousy punk is rotten to the core. The entire administration is rotten to the core.

See also: core, rotten

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.

See also: 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.

See also: 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)

See also: core

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 rotten

See also: core, rotten

rotten 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.

See also: core, rotten

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.

See also: core, rotten

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.

See also: core, soft

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.