Meanings
plural ignominies
- countableuncountableGreat dishonor, shame, or humiliation.
Near-synonym: bad name
5 more examples
But like Czar Peter content to toil in the shipyards of foreign cities, Queequeg disdained no seeming ignominy, if thereby he might happily gain the power of enlightening his untutored countrymen.
1851 November 14, Herman Melville, chapter XII, in Moby-Dick; or, The Whale, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers; London: Richard Bentley, →OCLC, page 62Bradly came out from hiding with a dyspeptic grunt, too depressed by ignominy to send a curse after the old woman.
1938, Norman Lindsay, Age of Consent, 1st Australian edition, Sydney, N.S.W.: Ure Smith, published 1962, →OCLCCalvin: Our great plan backfired and I'm the one who got soaked! Oh, the shame! The ignominy!
a. 1994, Bill Watterson, Homicidal Psycho Jungle Cat, Andrews McMeel, page 168It was tribal, almost relentless and, in the case of the official England band, there was a degree of ignominy, too, for repeatedly playing a tune for which the words go “Fuck the IRA”, something that could lead to a full breakdown of their relationship with the FA.
2014 November 18, Daniel Taylor, “England and Wayne Rooney see off Scotland in their own back yard”, in The Guardian, archived from the original on 07 Apr 2023The lawyer who shot to ignominy last week with a racist rant at a Manhattan lunch spot apologized Tuesday on social media, where a video of his threat to call immigration agents on Spanish-speaking workers had first gone viral.
2018 May 22, Liz Robbins, Maya Salam, “‘I Am Not Racist’: Lawyer Issues Apology One Week After Rant”, in The New York Times, archived from the original on 15 Feb 2023Synonyms: ignominiousness, bad name
Synonyms & antonyms
nounGreat dishonor, shame, or humiliation.
More synonyms by meaning
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
Translations
Ancient Greek ἀτιμία
- ἀτιμία (atimía)great dishonor, shame, or humiliation
Bulgarian срам, позор
- срам (sram)great dishonor, shame, or humiliation
- позор (pozor)great dishonor, shame, or humiliation
Catalan ignomínia
- ignomíniagreat dishonor, shame, or humiliation
Danish vanære, skam
- vanæregreat dishonor, shame, or humiliation
- skamgreat dishonor, shame, or humiliation
- vanrygreat dishonor, shame, or humiliation
Dutch schaamte
- schaamtegreat dishonor, shame, or humiliation
Finnish häpeä, häpeällinen teko
- häpeägreat dishonor, shame, or humiliation
- häpeällinen tekogreat dishonor, shame, or humiliation
French ignominie
- ignominiegreat dishonor, shame, or humiliation
German Schmach, Schande
- Schmachgreat dishonor, shame, or humiliation
- Schandegreat dishonor, shame, or humiliation
- Schändlichkeitgreat dishonor, shame, or humiliation
- Unaussprechlichkeitgreat dishonor, shame, or humiliation
Hungarian gyalázat
- gyalázatgreat dishonor, shame, or humiliation
Irish míchlú
- míchlúgreat dishonor, shame, or humiliation
Italian ignominia, infamia
- ignominiagreat dishonor, shame, or humiliation
- infamiagreat dishonor, shame, or humiliation
Latin ignominia
- ignominiagreat dishonor, shame, or humiliation
Norwegian skjensel, vanære
- skjenselgreat dishonor, shame, or humiliation
- vanæregreat dishonor, shame, or humiliation
- skamgreat dishonor, shame, or humiliation
Norwegian Bokmål vanære, skam
- vanæregreat dishonor, shame, or humiliation
- skamgreat dishonor, shame, or humiliation
Polish upokorzenie, podłość
- upokorzeniegreat dishonor, shame, or humiliation
- podłośćgreat dishonor, shame, or humiliation
- hańbagreat dishonor, shame, or humiliation
- dyshonorgreat dishonor, shame, or humiliation
- sromotagreat dishonor, shame, or humiliation
Portuguese ignomínia, desonra
- ignomíniagreat dishonor, shame, or humiliation
- desonragreat dishonor, shame, or humiliation
Romanian ignominie
- ignominiegreat dishonor, shame, or humiliation
Russian бесче́стие, позо́р
- бесче́стие (besčéstije)great dishonor, shame, or humiliation
- позо́р (pozór)great dishonor, shame, or humiliation
- срам (sram)great dishonor, shame, or humiliation
Spanish ignominia
- ignominiagreat dishonor, shame, or humiliation
Swedish vanära, skam
- vanäragreat dishonor, shame, or humiliation
- skamgreat dishonor, shame, or humiliation
- nesagreat dishonor, shame, or humiliation
- skymfgreat dishonor, shame, or humiliation
- smälekgreat dishonor, shame, or humiliation
Turkish kepazelik, rezalet
- kepazelikgreat dishonor, shame, or humiliation
- rezaletgreat dishonor, shame, or humiliation
- rezillikgreat dishonor, shame, or humiliation
- zilletgreat dishonor, shame, or humiliation
Ukrainian безче́стя, ганьба́
- безче́стя (bezčéstja)great dishonor, shame, or humiliation
- ганьба́ (hanʹbá)great dishonor, shame, or humiliation
Cite this entry
ignominy. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/ignominy
“ignominy.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/ignominy. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “ignominy,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/ignominy.
Source: ignominy on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.