fame
Americannoun
-
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.
verb (used with object)
noun
-
the state of being widely known or recognized; renown; celebrity
-
archaic rumour or public report
verb
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of fame
1175–1225; Middle English < Anglo-French, Old French < Latin fāma talk, public opinion, repute, akin to fārī to speak
Explanation
Fame is what you have if you're a celebrity: a lot of people know who you are. A musician's fame might mean she wears sunglasses and a baseball cap to disguise herself when she's in public. Movie stars, rock stars, well-known public figures — these are all people who have achieved some amount of fame. You may have a kind of fame in a much smaller sphere: "She won every spelling bee in the state, which gave her some fame at her school." Fame is an Old French word that means "reputation or renown," from the Latin fama, "rumor, reputation, or renown," and also "ill-fame" or "scandal."
Vocabulary lists containing fame
Academy Awards, List 5
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"Mysteries of the Ancient Past"
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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:
Policy wonks are not typically famous: If they are, that fame is restricted to a league of Beltway professionals—famous in the way that really good brain surgeons are famous to other, presumably lesser brain surgeons.
From Slate ● Oct. 15, 2026
Park said the actor, who rose to fame in The Office and went on to star in the BBC Drama Sherlock and films such as Love Actually and The Hobbit, was "the obvious choice really."
From BBC ● Oct. 13, 2026
When what you seek is not wealth or fame but vindication, you can never get enough.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 9, 2026
His late ’90s breakthrough in the triple-hitter lineup of “Halloween: H20,” “The Faculty” and “The Virgin Suicides” catapulted him to international fame practically overnight, cementing his place alongside the era’s Tiger Beat celebrity infatuations.
From Salon ● Oct. 9, 2026
Time has made the skull fragile, but Phineas Gage's fame still draws visitors to Harvard's Countway Library to look without touching.
From "Phineas Gage" by John Fleischman
Firefighters were also busy battling the Bryson fire, which broke out overnight on the outskirts of the famed Malibu beach community.
From Barron's ● Oct. 17, 2026
A team of researchers are on their way to a remote island to inspect what they think could be the wreckage of famed aviator Amelia Earhart's plane.
From BBC ● Oct. 10, 2026
The new head of 7-Eleven Inc. has a plan to revamp the famed convenience-store chain’s image in North America: Mirror what’s worked in Japan.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 9, 2026
The famed railroad line along the San Clemente coast has found itself on the endangered list amid a relentless assault from rising seas and punishing surf.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 8, 2026
The people of Isfahan ventured to the center of the strange neighborhood to stand in line, before the famed bakery of Akh Tamar, just for six of his cream puffs.
From "Everything Sad Is Untrue" by Daniel Nayeri
In the 1930s, drought and bad faming methods destroyed 100 million acres of farmland around Oklahoma and forced families to leave, many for California.
From Time ● Apr. 10, 2015
In Strype's edition, 1720, he says, concerning this gate, "Leaving out the fable thereof faming it to be builded by King Belin, a Briton, long before the incarnation of Christ."
From Notes and Queries, Number 11, January 12, 1850 by Various
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Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
