opprobrium

plural opprobriums · plural opprobria

1. archaiccountableA cause, object, or situation of disgrace or shame.First known use mid 17th c.

   As there are certain malignant diseases which have been denominated the opprobria of medicine, so there are particular maladies of our social condition, which may be considered the opprobria of legislation. Amongst the most inveterate of these are the poor laws.

   1828 May, “Poor Laws—Emigration”, in The London Magazine (Third Series), number II, London: […] [William Clowes] for the proprietors, and published by their agent, Henry Hooper, […], →OCLC, page 227

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   It was not that he was in danger of legal punishment or of beggary: he was in danger only of seeing disclosed to the judgment of his neighbours and the mournful perception of his wife certain facts of his past life which would render him an object of scorn and an opprobrium of the religion with which he had diligently associated himself.

   1871–1872, George Eliot [pseudonym; Mary Ann Evans], chapter LXI, in Middlemarch […], volume III, Edinburgh; London: William Blackwood and Sons, →OCLC, book VI, page 313

   Twelve years have now elapsed since the first assassinations which proved the existence of a criminal organization in our midst. From that day these outrages have never ceased, until now they have reached a pitch which makes us the opprobrium of the civilized world.

   1914 September – 1915 May, Arthur Conan Doyle, “Lodge 341, Vermissa”, in The Valley of Fear: A Sherlock Holmes Novel, New York, N.Y.: George H[enry] Doran Company, published 27 February 1915, →OCLC, part II (The Scowrers), page 230

   Synonyms: opprobry

2. countableuncountableDisgrace or bad reputation arising from exceedingly shameful behaviour; ignominy.First known use late 17th c.

   I am content to suffer alone, while my sufferings shall endure: when I die, I am well satisfied that abhorrence and opprobrium should load my memory.

   1816 June – 1817 April/May (date written), [Mary Shelley], chapter VII, in Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus. […], volume III, London: […] [Macdonald and Son] for Lackington, Hughes, Harding, Mavor, & Jones, published 1 January 1818, →OCLC, page 186

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   Let me add that it is the great deſideratum, by which alone this form of government can be reſcued from the opprobrium under which it has ſo long labored, and be recommended to the eſteem and adoption of mankind.

   1788, Publius [pseudonym; James Madison], “Number X. The Same Subject Continued [The Utility of the Union as a Safeguard against Domestic Faction and Insurrection].”, in The Federalist: A Collection of Essays, Written in Favour of the New Constitution, […] , volume I, New York, N.Y.: […] J. and A. M‘Lean, […], →OCLC, page 57

   Virgin [Atlantic] won't pay a penny in fines and actually emerges as a winner, since all the opprobrium of the rule-breach has been heaped on BA [British Airways].

   2007 August 1, Robert Peston, quotee, “BA’s Price-fix Fine Reaches £270m”, in BBC News, archived from the original on 16 Apr 2021

   Synonyms: obloquy, opprobry

3. countableuncountableScornful contempt or reproach; (countable) an instance of this.

   Some Johnny with brains produces a hypothesis. Everybody calls him a rotter at first. But he remains calm in the face of opprobrium.

   1908 August, George A. Birmingham [pseudonym; James Owen Hannay], chapter VII, in Spanish Gold, 2nd edition, London: Methuen & Co. […], published September 1908, →OCLC, page 76

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   […]from that strict rectitude in which I have been accustomed to walk and to view my actions, and which, notwithstanding the unjust opprobrium cast upon me, I find to be an invincible support and shield.

   1838, [Letitia Elizabeth] Landon (indicated as editor), chapter III, in Duty and Inclination: […], volume II, London: Henry Colburn, […], →OCLC, page 33

   Synonyms: blame, castigation, censure, derision, invective, opprobry, contempt, despect

4. archaiccountableuncountableBehaviour which is disgraceful or shameful.