What's the difference between "to bribe" and "to corrupt" ?

hi from London, I'm a native speaker of British English.

to bribe means to make a payment (of some form) to someone, in order to obtain a corrupt service.

to corrupt means to change or distort the true nature of something.

We can say that modern pop videos corrupt young people because they give a false image of life, and distort how the young people think.

So clearly, making a bribe will corrupt someone, but corruption isn't always the result of a bribe, it could be the result of coercion such as a threat of violence, or of a culture which is distorted.

Those that say there's a difference are just arguing about semantics if you're talking about people in public life.

Anyone that takes a bribe in a public position is corrupt. For example there is no way that a serving police officer can justify taking a payment (bribe). It's corruption.

That's not to say all bribes equate to corruption. A 17year old bribing his 12 year old brother to leave the house so he can make out with his girlfriend isn't exactly corruption.

Corruption has a wider meaning than bribery. Corruption literally means rotting (as in a dead body).

corruption is a general word referring to immorality which takes the form of dishonesty, embezzlement, fraud, other forms of malfeasance, especially involving public officials

bribery is a particular form of corruption, usually the offering of money or some other material object in return for some reward or advantage (a job, public office, a university admission etc etc)

to bribe-to to offer a favour of any kind(monetory or non-monetory) or to influence a person of trust for one's own good.

to corrupt- to change from good to bad in manners, morals or acts.