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ignominious

ig·no·mi·nious

UK/ˌɪɡ.nə(ʊ)ˈmɪ.ni.əs/ US/ɪɡ.nəˈmɪ.ni.əs/ uncommon

adjective

1.

(used of conduct or character) deserving or bringing disgrace or shame

  • “Man...has written one of his blackest records as a destroyer on the oceanic islands” Rachel Carson
  • “an ignominious retreat”
  • “inglorious defeat”
  • “an opprobrious monument to human greed”
  • “a shameful display of cowardice”
Synonyms
Similar

Origin

From Late Middle English ignominious (“disgraceful, shameful”), from Middle French ignominieux (modern French ignominieux), or from its etymon Latin ignōminiōsus (“disgraced; disgraceful, shameful, ignominious”), from ignōminia (“disgrace, dishonour, shame, ignominy”) + -ōsus (suffix meaning ‘full of; overly; prone to’ forming adjectives from nouns). Ignōminia is derived from ig- (variant of in- (prefix meaning not) + nōmen (“name; good name, reputation”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *h₁nómn̥ (“name”)) + -ia (suffix forming feminine abstract nouns). By surface analysis, ignominy + -ious (suffix forming adjectives from nouns denoting the presence of a quality in any degree, typically an abundance).

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Word family

WordNet 2.1 (Princeton University). Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. WordNet 2.1 Copyright Princeton University. All rights reserved. Wiktionary content is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike Licence.