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
“You should not have to wear this scarlet letter of sorts that prevents you from participating in our most basic concept of democracy,” said Sen. Raumesh Akbari, a Democrat from Memphis.
From Seattle Times ● Jan. 25, 2024
“She will be someone who will live the rest of her life with this scarlet letter on her,” said Barry P. Beck, a lawyer for Ms. Toebbe.
From New York Times ● Aug. 16, 2022
Had seven long years, under the torture of the scarlet letter, inflicted so much of misery, and wrought out no repentance?
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.
