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opprobrium

opp·rob·rium

UK/əˈpɹəʊ.bɹɪ.əm/ US/əˈpɹoʊ.bɹi.əm/ uncommon archaic

noun

1.

state of disgrace resulting from public abuse

Synonyms
2.

a state of extreme dishonor

  • “a date which will live in infamy” F.D.Roosevelt
  • “the name was a by-word of scorn and opprobrium throughout the city”
Synonyms
Antonyms

Origin

PIE word *h₁epi Learned borrowing from Latin opprobrium, obprobrium (“a reproach, a taunt; disgrace, shame; dishonour; scandal”, noun), from opprobrō, obprobrō (“to reproach, upbraid; to taunt”) + -ium (suffix forming abstract nouns). Opprobrō, obprobrō are derived from ob- (prefix meaning ‘towards’) + probrum (“disgrace, shame; abuse, insult”, noun) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *pro- (“forward; toward”) + *bʰer- (“to bear, carry”), in the sense of something brought up to reproach a person). The plural form opprobria is borrowed from Latin opprobria. Cognates * French opprobre * Italian obbrobrio * Portuguese ouprobio (obsolete), opróbrio * Spanish oprobrio (obsolete), oprobio

Related words

Broader terms

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.