fame
- widespread reputation, especially of a favorable character; renown; public eminence: to seek fame as an opera singer.
- common estimation or opinion generally held of a person or thing; reputation.
- Archaic. to have or spread the renown of; to make famous.
Origin of fame
Examples from the Web for fame
Contemporary Examples
Tim Russert and I are driving back to the Albany airport after taking our kids to the baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown.
We might have thought The Comeback was about a desperate actress's shameless struggle for fame.
She is using this technique, which generations of African-Americans have used for survival, for fame and profit.
But, strange to say, Cocker never got inducted in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
According to some rumors, Goya was once on staff before his fame as a Spanish painter.
Historical Examples
"I am satisfied with the pursuit of wisdom, not with the fame of it," replied the sage.
PhilotheaLydia Maria Child
The fame of the Nile valley must have spread at an early date.
Ancient ManHendrik Willem van Loon
He has made a speech, and dedicated it to German fame for ever.
Your squires are doubtless worthy the fame of their masters.
The White CompanyArthur Conan Doyle
But to have been Caesar's mistress was Cleopatra's chief title to fame.
The Man ShakespeareFrank Harris
fame
- the state of being widely known or recognized; renown; celebrity
- archaic rumour or public report
- (tr; now usually passive) to make known or famous; celebratehe was famed for his ruthlessness
Word Origin
Word Origin and History for fame
n.
early 13c., "character attributed to someone;" late 13c., "celebrity, renown," from Old French fame "fame, reputation, renown, rumor," from Latin fama "talk, rumor, report, reputation," from PIE root *bha- (2) "to speak, tell, say" (cf. Sanskrit bhanati "speaks;" Latin fari "to say," fabula "narrative, account, tale, story;" Armenian ban, bay "word, term;" Old Church Slavonic bajati "to talk, tell;" Old English boian "to boast," ben "prayer, request;" Greek pheme "talk," phone "voice, sound," phanai "to speak;" Old Irish bann "law").
The goddess Fama was the personification of rumor in Roman mythology. The Latin derivative fabulare was the colloquial word for "speak, talk" since the time of Plautus, whence Spanish hablar.
I've always been afraid I was going to tap the world on the shoulder for 20 years, and when it finally turned around I was going to forget what I had to say. [Tom Waits, "Playboy" magazine interview, March, 1988]