infamy

Etymology

From late Middle English infamie, from Old French infamie, from Latin īnfāmia (“infamy”), from īnfāmis (“infamous”), from in- (“not”) + fāma (“fame, renown”). Displaced native Old English unhlīsa (literally “bad fame”).

noun

  1. The state of being infamous.
    1. The state of having a reputation as being evil.
      Yesterday, December seventh, 1941, a date which will live in infamy, the United States of America was suddenly and deliberately attacked by naval and air forces of the Empire of Japan. December 8 1941, President Franklin D. Roosevelt, Day of Infamy Speech
  2. A reprehensible occurrence or situation.
    All for a pig of a man who should have gone to the chair. It is an infamy that he did not. 1934, Agatha Christie, chapter 8, in Murder on the Orient Express, London: HarperCollins, published 2017, page 251
  3. (law) A stigma attaching to a person's character that disqualifies them from being a witness.

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