ignominious

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English

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WOTD – 15 May 2006

Etymology

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From French or Old French ignominieux, from Latin ignōminiōsus (“disgraceful”), from ignōminia (“loss of a good name, ignominy”), from ig- (“not”) + nomen (“name”) (prefix assimilated form of in-). By surface analysis, ignominy +‎ -ious.

Pronunciation

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  • IPA(key): /ɪɡnəˈmɪniəs/
  • Audio (US):(file)

Adjective

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ignominious (comparative more ignominious, superlative most ignominious)

  1. Marked by great disgrace, dishonour, humiliation, or shame; disgraceful, shameful.
    Synonyms: see Thesaurus:despicable
    The time when the pseudovirtuous men and women die a painful and ignominious death has yet to come.
    • 1591 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Second Part of Henry the Sixt, […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies. […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene i], page 131, column 2:
      Hath he not tvvit our Soueraigne Lady here / VVith ignominious vvords, though Clarkely coucht? / As if ſhe had ſuborned ſome to ſvveare / Falſe allegations, to o'rethrovv his ſtate.
    • 1776, Edward Gibbon, chapter I, in The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, volume I, London: […] W[illiam] Strahan; and T[homas] Cadell, […], →OCLC:
      The golden eagle, which glittered in the front of the legion, was the object of their fondest devotion; nor was it esteemed less impious than it was ignominious, to abandon that sacred ensign in the hour of danger.
    • 1830, The Book of Mormon:
      And it came to pass that they took him; and his name was Nehor; and they carried him upon the top of the hill Manti, and there he was caused, or rather did acknowledge, between the heavens and the earth, that what he had taught to the people was contrary to the word of God; and there he suffered an ignominious death.
    • 1862 July – 1863 August, George Eliot [pseudonym; Mary Ann Evans], “The Barber’s Shop”, in Romola. […], volume I, London: Smith, Elder and Co., […], published 1863, →OCLC, book I, page 53:
      [T]he façade of the cathedral did not stand ignominious in faded stucco, but had upon it the magnificent promise of the half-completed marble inlaying and statued niches, which Giotto had devised a hundred and fifty years before; […]
    • 1902, Thomas Ebenezer Webb, The Mystery of William Shakespeare: A Summary of Evidence, page 242:
      Greene died of a debauch; and Marlowe, the gracer of tragedians, perished in an ignominious brawl.
    • 1943 November – 1944 February (date written; published 1945 August 17), George Orwell [pseudonym; Eric Arthur Blair], Animal Farm […], London: Secker & Warburg, published May 1962, →OCLC:
      In sheer malignity, thinking to set back our plans and avenge himself for his ignominious expulsion, this traitor has crept here under cover of night and destroyed our work of nearly a year.
    • 2016 June 27, Daniel Taylor, “England humiliated as Iceland knock them out of Euro 2016”, in Katharine Viner, editor, The Guardian‎[1], London: Guardian News & Media, →ISSN, →OCLC:
      For Roy Hodgson it was a desperate and ignominious way to end his four years as England manager. Whatever else happened in that time, his period in office will probably always be remembered for the full-on humiliation that accompanied this defeat and the knowledge it will rank among the more infamous results in the history of the national team.
      (Can we archive this URL?)
    • 2017 June 7, Adam Lusher, “Adnan Khashoggi: the ‘whoremonger’ whose arms deals funded a playboy life of decadence and ‘pleasure wives’”, in The Independent‎[2], London: Independent News & Media, →ISSN, →OCLC:
      And yet it also seems that Khashoggi avoided anything as ignominious as personal bankruptcy.
      (Can we archive this URL?)

Derived terms

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Translations

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