opprobrium

[uh-proh-bree-uh m]

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR opprobrium ON THESAURUS.COM

noun

the disgrace or the reproach incurred by conduct considered outrageously shameful; infamy.

a cause or object of such disgrace or reproach.

Origin of opprobrium

1650–60; < Latin: reproach, equivalent to op- op- + probr(um) infamy, disgrace + -ium -ium

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for opprobrium

Contemporary Examples of opprobrium

Singled out for opprobrium was the planned exhibit on Margaret Sanger, birth-control crusader and godmother of Planned Parenthood.
Michele Bachmann’s Crazy War on Women’s History
Michelle Cottle
May 8, 2014
In the real world, walking around with Google Glass is as likely to make you a target of opprobrium as it is a target of envy.
Is Wearable Technology a Fad or the Future?
Daniel Gross
January 9, 2014
Just this weekend, in the wake of the Arizona shooting, he lobbed some opprobrium toward Sarah Palin via his Twitter account.
Piers Morgan's Splashy CNN Debut
Jacob Bernstein
January 11, 2011

Historical Examples of opprobrium

Does she know of the opprobrium which must fall upon her head?
The Forsaken Inn
Anna Katharine Green
Every form in which shame and opprobrium could overwhelm her darling, haunted her.
Ruth
Elizabeth Cleghorn Gaskell
Cock-eye, a term of opprobrium often applied to one that squints.
The Slang Dictionary
John Camden Hotten
Far from me be the thought of lessening the opprobrium of the deed I am accused of.
The Indian Scout
Gustave Aimard
He merited their opprobrium, simply by being a comrade to his men.
Recollections with the Third Iowa Regiment
Seymour D. (Seymour Dwight) Thompson

British Dictionary definitions for opprobrium

opprobrium

noun

the state of being abused or scornfully criticized

reproach or censure

a cause of disgrace or ignominy

Word Origin for opprobrium

C17: from Latin ob- against + probrum a shameful act

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for opprobrium

1680s, from Latin opprobrium "disgrace, infamy, scandal, dishonor," from opprobare (see opprobrious).