ignominious
UK /ˌɪɡ.nə(ʊ)ˈmɪ.ni.əs/ · US /ɪɡ.nəˈmɪ.ni.əs/ adjective
- adjective Especially of a person: deserving of disgrace or dishonour; contemptible, despicable.
- adjective (generally) Causing or marked by disgrace or dishonour; disgraceful, dishonourable; also (loosely), humiliating, shameful. “The time when the pseudovirtuous men and women die a painful and ignominious death has yet to come.”
Synonyms
abject filthy base beggarly blameworthy carrion cheap choical contemptible cringing damnable dedecorous degraded deplorable deridable derisible despicable despisable dirty discreditable black disgraceful inglorious opprobrious shameful
Etymology
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).
Webster’s 1913
- adjective Marked with ignominy; in curring public disgrace; dishonorable; shameful.
- adjective Deserving ignominy; despicable.
Etymology [L. ignominiosus: cf. F. ignominieux.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “ignominious”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details