Meanings
comparative more ignominious · superlative most ignominious
- Especially of a person: deserving of disgrace or dishonour; contemptible, despicable.
Synonyms: abject, filthy, base, beggarly, blameworthy, carrion, cheap, choical
- generallyCausing 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.
5 more examples
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.
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 2The 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.
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, […], →OCLCAnd 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.
1830, The Book of Mormon[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; […]
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 53Greene died of a debauch; and Marlowe, the gracer of tragedians, perished in an ignominious brawl.
1902, Thomas Ebenezer Webb, The Mystery of William Shakespeare: A Summary of Evidence, page 242Synonyms: abject, filthy, base, beggarly, blameworthy, carrion, cheap, choical
Synonyms & antonyms
adjectiveEspecially of a person: deserving of disgrace or dishonour; contemptible, despicable.
adjectiveCausing or marked by disgrace or dishonour; disgraceful, dishonourable; also (loosely), humiliating, shameful.
More synonyms by meaning
adjective(used of conduct or character) deserving or bringing disgrace or shame
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
- Proto-Indo-European*h₁nómn̥“name”
- Latinignōminiōsus“disgraced; disgraceful, shameful, ignominious”
- Middle Frenchignominieux
- Middle Englishignominious“disgraceful, shameful”
- Englishignominious
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).
More words from Middle English, Middle French, Latin
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Ancient Greek ἄδοξος
- ἄδοξος (ádoxos)causing or marked by disgrace or dishonour — see also disgraceful, dishonourable
Bulgarian позорен, долен
- позорен (pozoren)causing or marked by disgrace or dishonour — see also disgraceful, dishonourable
- долен (dolen)causing or marked by disgrace or dishonour — see also disgraceful, dishonourable
Catalan ignominiós
- ignominióscausing or marked by disgrace or dishonour — see also disgraceful, dishonourable
Czech potupný, ostudný
- potupnýcausing or marked by disgrace or dishonour — see also disgraceful, dishonourable
- ostudnýcausing or marked by disgrace or dishonour — see also disgraceful, dishonourable
- ponižujícícausing or marked by disgrace or dishonour — see also disgraceful, dishonourable
- hanebnýcausing or marked by disgrace or dishonour — see also disgraceful, dishonourable
Dutch oneervol
- oneervolcausing or marked by disgrace or dishonour — see also disgraceful, dishonourable
Finnish häpeällinen
- häpeällinencausing or marked by disgrace or dishonour — see also disgraceful, dishonourable
French ignominieux
- ignominieuxcausing or marked by disgrace or dishonour — see also disgraceful, dishonourable
German schändlich, schmählich
- schändlichcausing or marked by disgrace or dishonour — see also disgraceful, dishonourable
- schmählichcausing or marked by disgrace or dishonour — see also disgraceful, dishonourable
- schmachvollcausing or marked by disgrace or dishonour — see also disgraceful, dishonourable
- schimpflichcausing or marked by disgrace or dishonour — see also disgraceful, dishonourable
Hebrew מַחְפִּיר
- מַחְפִּיר (makhpír)causing or marked by disgrace or dishonour — see also disgraceful, dishonourable
Italian ignominioso
- ignominiosocausing or marked by disgrace or dishonour — see also disgraceful, dishonourable
Latin ignōminiōsus
- ignōminiōsuscausing or marked by disgrace or dishonour — see also disgraceful, dishonourable
Polish haniebny, niegodziwy
- haniebnycausing or marked by disgrace or dishonour — see also disgraceful, dishonourable
- niegodziwycausing or marked by disgrace or dishonour — see also disgraceful, dishonourable
- sromotnycausing or marked by disgrace or dishonour — see also disgraceful, dishonourable
- podłycausing or marked by disgrace or dishonour — see also disgraceful, dishonourable
Portuguese ignominioso
- ignominiosocausing or marked by disgrace or dishonour — see also disgraceful, dishonourable
Russian позо́рный, бессла́вный
- позо́рный (pozórnyj)causing or marked by disgrace or dishonour — see also disgraceful, dishonourable
- бессла́вный (besslávnyj)causing or marked by disgrace or dishonour — see also disgraceful, dishonourable
Spanish ignominioso
- ignominiosocausing or marked by disgrace or dishonour — see also disgraceful, dishonourable
Swedish vanhedrande, skymflig
- vanhedrandecausing or marked by disgrace or dishonour — see also disgraceful, dishonourable
- skymfligcausing or marked by disgrace or dishonour — see also disgraceful, dishonourable
- nesligcausing or marked by disgrace or dishonour — see also disgraceful, dishonourable
- skamligcausing or marked by disgrace or dishonour — see also disgraceful, dishonourable
Turkish yüz kızartıcı
- yüz kızartıcıcausing or marked by disgrace or dishonour — see also disgraceful, dishonourable
Rhymes & wordplay
Rhymes with ignominious
All rhymes →Cite this entry
ignominious. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/ignominious
“ignominious.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/ignominious. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “ignominious,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/ignominious.
Source: ignominious on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.