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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"The New Colossus"
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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:
Those cameras have spread his fame far beyond Blighty.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 28, 2026
The singer rose to fame in 2022 when his song "Romantic Homicide" became a viral sensation on TikTok.
From Barron's ● Jul. 27, 2026
A product of the Cambridge Footlights, the cradle of so much post-war British comedy, he shot to fame in the 1970s as a member of the anarchic Goodies.
From BBC ● Jul. 27, 2026
That means that the global celebrity who leveraged his fame into billionaire status will earn the exact same amount as, say, DeAndre Jordan, a third-string center who appeared in 12 games all of last season.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 26, 2026
Kids care about fame, it turns out, for only a few minutes.
From "Becoming" by Michelle Obama
OpenAI’s Greg Brockman and his wife donated $5.5 million to conserve land near famed Big Bear eagles’ nest as Jackie remains in critical care.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 28, 2026
A heavyweight, he won successive Asian Games gold medals in 1966 and 1970 and was among those who established the famed Bhiwani Boxing Club, which would later produce boxers including Olympic medallist Vijender Singh.
From BBC ● Jul. 26, 2026
The battle over Warner Bros. began last year, when media giants Netflix and Paramount went to war over the famed movie studio and its prized back catalog.
From Barron's ● Jul. 24, 2026
Bestselling author and famed election and sports projection-model creator Nate Silver reposted the poll on Friday, writing: “This is what’s wrong with Britain.”
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 24, 2026
The famed Tuskegee Institute was, I learned, out of the city limits.
From "Black Like Me" by John Howard Griffin
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
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.
