Usage
What does notoriety mean? Notoriety is the state or quality of being famous or well-known, especially for a negative reason. If often means the state or quality of being notorious, which is especially used to describe people who are widely known and viewed unfavorably for their actions, such as notorious criminals. It can also be applied to events, as in a notorious scandal. This sense of notorious is often used interchangeably with the word infamous. Strictly speaking, infamous means having, deserving, or resulting in a bad or evil reputation, while notorious usually implies that a person is both famous and disliked. Still, they usually mean just about the same thing. A noun form of infamous, infamy, is often used interchangeably with notoriety. Notorious can also mean known for a particular trait or action, not necessarily a bad one, as in My aunt is notorious for arriving late to family events. Notoriety can refer to the state of being known in this way. In some cases, it can mean much the same thing as fame, and in fact the two words are often used side by side, as in It’s unbelievable what some people will do for fame and notoriety. Notoriety is often discussed as being earned, gained, or achieved, as in The company gained notoriety for its irreverent marketing campaigns. Example: He gained notoriety for his role in the scandal, and his reputation has never recovered.
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of notoriety
1585–95; < Medieval Latin nōtōrietās, equivalent to nōtōri ( us ) notorious + -etās, variant (after -i- ) of -ity
Explanation
Notoriety is fame you get from doing something bad or being part of a misfortune or scandal. Just remember: Notoriety's not al-righty. Charles Manson earned notoriety for his grisly crimes. In our celebrity culture, it's hard not to think that seizing your 15 minutes of fame is worth the shame of earning it through stupidity, scandal, or evil. (See: people's motives for going on reality television.) We ordinary mortals can comfort ourselves with the knowledge that most people who become notorious fade from the public mind quickly.
Vocabulary lists containing notoriety
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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:
"It would give this individual, who deserves no further notoriety, the martyrdom he seeks," she wrote on X, external, adding that "how we carry out justice matters just as much as the justice itself."
From BBC ● Oct. 12, 2026
Debs gained notoriety in America because he “brandished the red banner with such zeal.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 9, 2026
He senses the world changing in real time and doesn’t want to get left behind, lest his reporting and notoriety succumb to oblivion.
From Salon ● Sep. 26, 2026
“Your plan to reach out publicly about your story, which necessarily includes your involvement with the Manson family, would bring notoriety and glorification to that,” said Parole Board Commissioner Julie Garland.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 14, 2026
The monarchs shower favored families with land, titles, gifts, and notoriety.
From "The Belles" by Dhonielle Clayton
"The little miserable notorieties of a fishing-village—" "Coleraine, my Lord,—Coleraine," cried Dempsey.
From The Knight Of Gwynne, Vol. II (of II) by Charles James Lever
This is a season in which so many notorieties come through that I have dreaded being away.
From Charles Lever, His Life in His Letters, Vol. I by Edmund Downey
Mr. Perry's search for notorieties took him also to Scotland, and, oddly enough, Prince Wolfburgh's search for amusement led him in the same direction.
From Frances Waldeaux by Rebecca Harding Davis
He seems to me abnormally lacking in personal ambition,—does not seem to care whether he is heard of or not,—has a sort of contempt for the little neighborhood notorieties which give most men pleasure.
From Flint His Faults, His Friendships and His Fortunes by Maud Wilder Goodwin
One met beauty as well as brains; wealth as well as wit; and quite as many colourless nonentities as notorieties of every hue.
From My Lord Duke by E. W. (Ernest William) Hornung
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Get a wordDefinitions 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.
