disgrace
Americannoun
-
the loss of respect, honor, or esteem; ignominy; shame.
the disgrace of criminals.
- Synonyms:
- taint, notoriety, disapprobation, disapproval
- Antonyms:
- honor
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a person, act, or thing that causes shame, reproach, or dishonor or is dishonorable or shameful.
-
the state of being out of favor; exclusion from favor, confidence, or trust.
courtiers and ministers in disgrace.
verb (used with object)
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disgraces,
present (3rd person singular)
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disgraced,
past participle, past
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disgracing
present participle
noun
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a condition of shame, loss of reputation, or dishonour
-
a shameful person, thing, or state of affairs
-
exclusion from confidence or trust
he is in disgrace with his father
verb
-
to bring shame upon; be a discredit to
-
to treat or cause to be treated with disfavour
Synonym Usage
Disgrace, dishonor, ignominy, infamy imply a very low position in the opinion of others. Disgrace implies the disfavor of others: to be in disgrace. Dishonor implies a stain on honor or honorable reputation; it relates especially to the person's own conduct: He preferred death to dishonor. Ignominy is disgrace in which one's situation invites contempt: the ignominy of being discovered cheating. Infamy is shameful notoriety, or baseness of action or character that is widely known and recognized: The children never outlived the father's infamy.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
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disgracernoun
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predisgracenoun
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self-disgracenoun
-
quasi-disgracedadjective
-
self-disgracedadjective
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self-disgracingadjective
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undisgracedadjective
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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disgracesimple
-
disgracessimple
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have disgracedperfect
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has disgracedperfect
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am disgracingprogressive
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are disgracingprogressive
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is disgracingprogressive
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have been disgracingperfect progressive
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has been disgracingperfect progressive
Past
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disgracedsimple
-
had disgracedperfect
-
was disgracingprogressive
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were disgracingprogressive
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had been disgracingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of disgrace
1540–50; (noun) < Middle French < Italian disgrazia, equivalent to dis- dis- 1 + grazia < Latin gratia ( see grace); (v.) < Middle French disgracier < Italian disgraziare, derivative of disgrazia
Explanation
Use the verb disgrace to say that someone has brought shame upon himself. Your brother might disgrace himself at the family reunion by being rude to your Uncle Bob. You probably notice that grace makes up a big part of disgrace. Combine this with the dis- prefix, meaning “the opposite of,” and you get a word that involves shame and dishonor. Think of disgrace as a kind of fall from grace — it’s what happens when you do something that causes you to lose favor or damages your reputation. You could disgrace yourself by losing your tennis match badly, or you could disgrace yourself by cheating on an exam.
Vocabulary lists containing disgrace
"The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet," Vocabulary from Act 1
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Excerpts from "The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet"
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"The Sporting Spirit"
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
As a consequence, Lyalin was ordered to return to Moscow in disgrace.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 20, 2026
President Isaac Herzog also condemned the attack in Qusra, while Israel's foreign ministry called the violence "a disgrace".
From Barron's ● Aug. 29, 2026
"Final insult" is the Daily Mirror's take, calling it a "World Cup disgrace".
From BBC ● Jul. 17, 2026
"It's not just our wee river, it's all over the country, when you hear 50,000 fish killed, I think it's an absolute disgrace," Scullion said.
From BBC ● Jul. 14, 2026
It was a disgrace that as the girls grew older and even to marriageable age they still ran about the village street and left uncombed their rough sunbrowned hair, and sometimes even talked to men.
From "The Good Earth" by Pearl S. Buck
The half-hour series stars Glen Powell as Russ Holliday, a former star college quarterback for a big-name team who disgraces himself during the Rose Bowl.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 15, 2025
Officers aren’t allowed to conduct themselves in a way that personally disgraces them or dishonors the military profession, according to military law cited by the newspaper.
From Washington Times ● Dec. 14, 2022
What’s disappointing is the degree to which its exercise of muscle exposes and disgraces others.
From Washington Post ● Nov. 18, 2021
The real Sin-Eater is caught by Spider-Man, though, which disgraces Brock and causes him to hate Spider-Man.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 3, 2018
But they had sent her back to her own mother and father, a mysterious act hinting at disgraces not told me.
From "The Woman Warrior" by Maxine Hong Kingston
He also earned a nod for his dramatic turn as disgraced anchor Mitch Kessler in “The Morning Show.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 14, 2026
There unfolds a somewhat Wodehousian investigation involving undercover spies and scheming holdovers from Oswald Mosley’s disgraced fascist party.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 8, 2026
The Emmy-nominated, darkly comic thriller about a unit of disgraced British spies — starring Gary Oldman, Jack Lowden and Kristen Scott Thomas — remains sharp and propulsive, one of the best series on TV.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 31, 2026
Once China's richest man, disgraced property tycoon Xu Jiayin looked worn as a court in China handed the now white-haired Evergrande founder a life sentence on Thursday.
From Barron's ● Aug. 20, 2026
Camel limps weakly behind, popping his head around one side, and then falling back and running along the other like a disgraced puppy.
From "Water for Elephants" by Sara Gruen
Jurors accepted prosecutors' argument that Webster had "spearheaded" an attack on police lines and that he was responsible for "disgracing a democracy that he once fought honourably to protect and serve".
From BBC ● Sep. 1, 2022
"The disgracing of a dead body and setting it on fire are strictly forbidden in Islam," the court ruled.
From Reuters ● Apr. 19, 2022
“You are disgracing this city, you are disgracing the life of George Floyd and every other person who has been killed in this country,” she added.
From Fox News ● May 30, 2020
“You are disgracing our city,” Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms told protesters.
From Seattle Times ● May 30, 2020
“You’re so experienced, and you know about the circus—about the animals—and...you could help me to—to get through it without crying and disgracing my father.”
From "Tiger, Tiger" by Lynne Reid Banks
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
