scarlet letter
Americannoun
noun
Etymology
Origin of scarlet letter
An Americanism dating back to 1840–50
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.
Controversial newsmakers—Monica Lewinsky, Tonya Harding, Lorena Bobbitt among them—had the term pinioned to them like a scarlet letter, stripping away their accomplishments and leaving only scorned husks of their real selves.
From Salon • Mar. 23, 2025
“But now I have, like, a scarlet letter and the medical stuff so even if I could go to work, my face would be doing gymnastics.”
From Los Angeles Times • Dec. 12, 2024
“I became worried that despite the inclusive design and urban planning, the project would have a scarlet letter, and residents would become stigmatized before the building even opened,” Pooley said.
From Seattle Times • Jan. 31, 2024
It is not a scarlet letter enough for me that detestable owners are merely forced — or encouraged — to sell teams they ruined in myriad ways.
From Washington Post • Apr. 19, 2023
But, through the remainder of Hester's life, there were indications that the recluse of the scarlet letter was the object of love and interest with some inhabitant of another land.
From The Scarlet Letter by Foote, Mary Hallock
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.
