Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- adjective Having an exceedingly bad reputation; notorious.
- adjective Causing or deserving severe public condemnation; heinous.
- adjective Law Convicted of a crime, such as treason or felony, that carries a severe punishment. No longer in technical use.
from The Century Dictionary.
- Of ill fame; famous or noted for badness of any kind; notoriously evil; of vile character or quality; odious; detestable: applied to persons or things.
- Involving or attributing infamy; branded, or that brands, with infamy: as, an infamous crime; infamous punishment.
- In the commonlaw rule of evidence disqualifying convicts to testify as witnesses or serve as jurors, an offense a conviction of which would at common law disqualify the person as a witness or juror, because creating a strong presumption against truthfulness; in general, an offense punishable in a state prison.
- In the constitutional provision that no one can be held to answer for an infamous offense without presentment or indictment by grand jury, a crime punishable capitally or by imprisonment in a state prison or penitentiary, with or without hard labor. In this sense restricted by some authorities to those offenses which involve falsehood and are calculated to affect injuriously the public administration of justice. Synonyms Wicked, Heinous, etc. (see
atrocious ); disgraceful, shameful, grossly dishonorable, nefarious, execrable, ignominious.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- adjective Of very bad report; having a reputation of the worst kind; held in abhorrence; guilty of something that exposes to infamy; base; notoriously vile; detestable
- adjective Causing or producing infamy; deserving detestation; scandalous to the last degree
- adjective (Law) Branded with infamy by conviction of a crime.
- adjective Having a bad name as being the place where an odious crime was committed, or as being associated with something detestable; hence, unlucky; perilous; dangerous.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- adjective having a bad
reputation ,disreputable ; of bad report;notoriously vile; detestable; widely known, especially for something bad - adjective causing infamy; disgraceful
- adjective archaic in England / Great Britain, a judicial punishment which deprived the infamous person of certain rights; this included a prohibition against holding public office, exercising the
franchise , receiving a public pension, serving on a jury, or giving testimony in a court of law.
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- adjective known widely and usually unfavorably
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
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Examples
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I use the term infamous because as with a box of cream centered chocolates, one is never quite certain what the next choice will bring!
Columbiana Street Fair mike247worldwide 2005
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As he retired, bursting with ineffectual indignation, Esdale was the first person whom Hartley chanced to meet with, and to him, stung with impatience, he communicated what he termed the infamous conduct of the
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Defense Secretary Robert Gates, touring a facility down in Fort Bliss, Texas, today designed to help soldiers with Post-Traumatic Stress Syndrome, announced that the Pentagon will change what he called the infamous question 21.
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As he retired, bursting with ineffectual indignation, Esdale was the first person whom Hartley chanced to meet with, and to him, stung with impatience, he communicated what he termed the infamous conduct of the
The Surgeon's Daughter Walter Scott 1801
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There is in infamous moment in the writing lives of Annie, Paul and I where we can pinpoint the moment a character chose how his story would be told.
Crossing Over: Characters Choosing Writers « Write Anything 2009
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It was unclear if she was referring to her infamous display in the semi-final in 2009, when she was penalised against Kim Clijsters and heavily fined, or a similar incident to Sunday night's, in Doha last year.
US Open 2011: Samantha Stosur shocks Serena Williams to take title 2011
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Mother was referring to the infamous story of Helen Potter, daughter of a multimillionaire beer and wine distributor in Hyannis Port who, after she had been engaged to the son of a wealthy Boston builder, was discovered naked in bed with her closest girlfriend.
Olivia V.C.Andrews 2011
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Mother was referring to the infamous story of Helen Potter, daughter of a multimillionaire beer and wine distributor in Hyannis Port who, after she had been engaged to the son of a wealthy Boston builder, was discovered naked in bed with her closest girlfriend.
Olivia V.C.Andrews 2011
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Mother was referring to the infamous story of Helen Potter, daughter of a multimillionaire beer and wine distributor in Hyannis Port who, after she had been engaged to the son of a wealthy Boston builder, was discovered naked in bed with her closest girlfriend.
Olivia V.C.Andrews 2011
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Mother was referring to the infamous story of Helen Potter, daughter of a multimillionaire beer and wine distributor in Hyannis Port who, after she had been engaged to the son of a wealthy Boston builder, was discovered naked in bed with her closest girlfriend.
Olivia V.C.Andrews 2011
uselessness commented on the word infamous
Lucky Day
"Three Amigos, Hollywood, California.
You are very great.
100,000 pesos.
Come to Santa Poco put on show, stop.
The Infamous El Guapo."
Dusty Bottoms
What does that mean, infamous?
Ned Nederlander
Oh, Dusty. Infamous is when you're more than famous.
This man El Guapo, he's not just famous, he's IN famous.
February 18, 2007
abraxaszugzwang commented on the word infamous
Ha! That's exactly what I thought this word meant when I was little.
February 18, 2007
cathari commented on the word infamous
When I was little, I used to think (based on an extremely vague contextual speculation, I suppose) that it meant you were so bad you would never, ever be a sufficiently upstanding citizen to become famous. Of course, this was before I knew anything about famous people.
October 30, 2007
uselessness commented on the word infamous
Haha, with the likes of Paris Hilton and Lindsay Lohan running around, famous and infamous have become interchangeable. ;-)
October 31, 2007
bilby commented on the word infamous
"LADY WINDERMERE. I did not spy on you. I never knew of this woman's existence till half an hour ago. Some one who pitied me was kind enough to tell me what every one in London knows already - your daily visits to Curzon Street, your mad infatuation, the monstrous sums of money you squander on this infamous woman!"
- Oscar Wilde, 'Lady Windemere's Fan'.
August 27, 2009