| The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition. 2002. |
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| Something is rotten in the state of Denmark |
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| A line from the play Hamlet, by William Shakespeare. An officer of the palace guard says this after the ghost of the dead king appears, walking over the palace walls. | 1 |
| ‡ “Something is rotten in the state of Denmark” is used to describe corruption or a situation in which something is wrong. | 2 |
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| | | The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition. Edited by E.D. Hirsch, Jr., Joseph F. Kett, and James Trefil. Copyright © 2002 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved. |
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